The Meridian of Mishaps
by Berkelium
Summary: This Hiccstrid story takes place in the modern day. Hiccup and Astrid are high school seniors. Hiccup is naturally great at academics, but social situations are not really his thing. Astrid on the other hand is brilliant, athletic, and well loved; however, her competitiveness causes her to clash with Hiccup at first. An unexpected pairing tests both their strengths and weaknesses.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III woke up to the sound of his alarm roaring. Yes, roaring. For some reason, that was the only sound that could reliably lift him from his deep slumber. The dragon-like noise always managed to alarm Hiccup, no matter what time it was set for. At first Hiccup couldn't remember why he had set the thing to go off at 6:30, but it quickly occurred to him that it was the first day of school- of senior year. He loved school, yet he loved sleep more. Groaning, he reluctantly pried himself from the warm bed that seemed to envelop him deeper and deeper into a hug. As he swung his bony legs over the side of the bed, he made contact with something furry. He could just make out the faint outline of his large, black cat. "Mornin', Bud," Hiccup said to the sleeping animal who stirred silently in his sleep. He gave his best friend an affectionate pat on the top of his head. Feeling Hiccup's gentle touch, the cat stretched and let out a huge yawn, bearing his gummy smile. Hiccup was never sure exactly how the cat came to miss his teeth, but Hiccup knew he had endured a rough life in the wilderness before he took him in. Due to his missing canine teeth, Hiccup called the cat Toothless. At first it started out as a nick-name, but it eventually stuck.

Hiccup stood at the entrance to his closet, debating on whether or not to actually look nice for the first day of school. Standing there pondering, Hiccup felt like an idiot. It didn't matter at all what he wore. No one would give him a second thought, except to make fun of his awkward nerdiness and clumsiness. Hell, people would laugh at him just as much in normal clothes as they would if he wore a clown suit to school. Realizing this, Hiccup grabbed his favorite green shirt off the hanger and took his favorite pair of brown pants out of his hamper. He gave the pants a solid sniff before putting them on.

As Hiccup trudged down the stairs to make himself breakfast, a black blur ran past him. "Don't worry, Toothless, I'll make you breakfast too," he shouted after the object. "You always know when I'm going to get food, don't you?" At this, the cat turned around and gave a self-assured meow that made Hiccup chuckle. He always found it funny how his cat's meow sounded vaguely similar to his dragon-roar alarm clock. Hiccup went over to the cupboard and took out a box of cereal and a can of tuna. With all the food in the house, Hiccup preferred simple, easily prepared foods. Judging by his rail-thin frame, he didn't really eat all that much, unlike his father, Stoick, whom his friends affectionately called "Stoick the Vast" due to his exceptionally large frame. Hiccup quickly poured his cereal and milk and put the tuna into a bowl for Toothless. Still extremely groggy from his early wakeup, Hiccup accidently placed his bowl of cereal on the floor for Toothless and stuck his spoon into the bowl of tuna. Just as he was about to take a bite, he realized his mistake, glancing both at his spoonful of tuna as well as the happy black cat lapping up the milk from his bowl. "Sorry, Bud. That's not your breakfast. He ya go," he said as he exchanged the bowls. Honestly, Hiccup really didn't feel like fetching himself a new bowl of cereal so he decided to go ahead and eat the saliva-contaminated cereal.

At 7:00 Hiccup gathered his things and was set to head out the door. He debated whether or not to say goodbye to his father before he left; however, a gnarly snore from upstairs answered that question. Hiccup knew better than to wake his father. After all, his father definitely needed his beauty sleep to be the best mayor possible. And besides, it's not like he really cared what Hiccup was doing anyways. His father had tried for so long to get his son interested in football and baseball. He really tried to bond with his son; however, Hiccup really never took an interest to those sort of things. For one he was abnormally klutzy, tripping over nothing but air and also, he truly preferred his academics. His father could never understand how Hiccup could stay in the basement study area for hours upon hours just reading or drawing up inventions. He just wasn't like the other boys.

Hiccup knew this all too well. He was far different from everyone else at Berk High School. Freshman year, he entered through the doors of high school a scrawny, nerdy boy. He had hoped more than anything to make his mark on his high school- sure he had made his mark, but all in the wrong places because there he was, it was senior year and he entered those same doors as that same scrawny, nerdy boy whom everyone knew as a screw-up. Sure, Hiccup had grown a considerable amount since freshman year, but he was still just as skinny. Also, his new height helped add to his clumsiness. At least Hiccup was smart. In fact he was the smartest person in the school. As valedictorian no one even came close to matching his intelligence, no one except for Astrid Hofferson.

Astrid- just the thought of her made Hiccup's insides feel like mush and his heart race. He had had a crush on her ever since he had first laid eyes on her during homeroom freshman year. There she was in his homeroom class, sitting in the front of the room. Her presence in the room was like a beacon of light in a storm. Her glossy blonde hair lay perfectly in a braid and her deep blue eyes glistened with confidence. Hiccup was always amazed at how her soft facial features could always look so fierce, so well Astrid.

Hiccup snapped himself out of his daydream when he realized he had reached the student parking lot at school. When he parked his black sedan into his designated spot and went to step outside, he groaned. Just his luck, he happened to be assigned the spot right next to Scott, only the biggest bully in school. Scott was the quarterback of the football team and the most attractive guy at Berk High School. The muscular boy's biceps twitched menacingly as he leaned against his car, surrounded by his teammates whom together could outweigh a cruise ship. Hiccup tried to get out of his car as stealthily as possible. "Please don't see me, please don't see me," Hiccup silently pleaded to himself. He stole a quick glance over his shoulder to ensure that Scott and the rest of the team didn't notice him. Sure enough, they were busy ranting about their various sexual escapades over the duration of the summer. Hiccup's relief didn't last long as his foot caught the edge of a pothole and he fell face-first onto the hard asphalt. Not only did he hear the sound of his backpack clunk against his bony body, but he also heard the sound of screeching breaks and crunching steal. Hiccup looked up just in time to see a car slam on the breaks to avoid hitting his fallen body, spanned across the parking lot and the car behind it crash into the back of the stopped vehicle.

Hiccup could feel his face glowing a bright crimson color. He didn't know whether or not to stay on the ground forever or rise and face all the humiliation. To make matters worse, Scott came trotting over to Hiccup and placed one of his large, Nike shoes on Hiccup's backpack. "Wow, I've never seen anyone mess up that badly. You clumsy nerd can't stay on your feet for two seconds without causing disaster." Hiccup's heart pound heavily in his chest. He really didn't care what Scott thought of him, granted Scott has always bullied him, but he knew that Scott would tell Astrid about this incident and what a failure he was. Unfortunately, Scott had been pursuing Astrid since like forever. He loved to flirt with her and berate Hiccup and other misfits in the school with her. Hiccup hated the fact that he liked Astrid more than anything because Scott had been extremely vile towards him since middle school. Luckily, Astrid was too focused on her academics and athletics for a relationship with Scott, but really, he knew that the pairing made sense. He was the star quarterback and she was the star cross country runner. Both of them were the most attractive of their respective genders in school and both were extremely popular. However, Hiccup knew deep down that Astrid was way too good for him, despite that rough façade she put on for everyone at school. She was insanely smart at number two in the class behind Hiccup and she did have a somewhat sensitive side. Never had Hiccup heard her make any snide remarks in his direction, even when her whole group was laughing at one of his many mess-ups. She didn't say anything nice to Hiccup, but granted, she stayed quiet and Hiccup appreciated that. Hiccup just prayed that she would keep saying no to Scott's advances.

After the parking lot incident, Hiccup was sure his day could only go up. He arrived at his homeroom just before the bell rang. Hiccup was late for a lot of things, but school was usually not one of them. Getting the situation in the parking lot taken care of had taken longer than he thought. As he had for the three previous years, Hiccup took his seat in the back of his homeroom next to his one and only friend, Fishlegs. The nick-name sat very funny with Fishlegs now, but it had stuck ever since sixth grade gym class when Scott had bestowed it on him. On that fateful day many years ago, Fishlegs had forgotten his gym clothes. He didn't particularly like gym, but he didn't want to fail it either. After asking around for a pair of shorts to borrow, he finally found a pair hiding in lost-and-found. Unfortunately for Fishlegs, they were girl's shorts, but at that point he didn't really have a choice. He reluctantly put them on so he wouldn't get participation points deducted. All it took for Scott was one glance at his skinny, white legs protruding from the way too short shorts for the nick-name to come about. Fishlegs had put on a considerable amount of weight since then and had grown into an extremely husky boy with legs opposite of fishlegs. However, the name still sticks.

Hiccup greeted Fishlegs in a monotonous tone. "Sorry about what happened this morning," Fishlegs whispered as he reached out a patted his friend on the shoulder.

"How do you know about that?" Hiccup questioned in a worrisome tone as his palm stuck the center of his face.

"Everyone knows. Sorry man." Fishlegs responded. Fishlegs noticed how Hiccup's eyebrows contorted into a perplexed manner and he pointed at the blonde goddess seated at the front of the room. Hiccup's heart sunk, of course it was Astrid that would tell the whole school what a screw-up he is. Fishlegs continued, "Scott walked in here this morning and loudly proclaimed to Astrid and everyone else in the room what happened." Once again, Hiccup could feel his face turning that terrible shade of red, except this time it was not from embarrassment but from anger. It made perfect sense that Scott would do something like that, however, that fact still did not settle his rage. If Hiccup was double his weight and had double his balls, he would go track down Scott and sock him square in the jaw. But he was Hiccup so he sat there and fumed quietly in his seat.

Hiccup's schedule was passed out to him by their homeroom teacher. He didn't take much notice to it as his thoughts were consumed with the blonde goddess in front of him. He couldn't help but stare at that perfect braid and wonder how much of an idiot she thought he was. Stupid him, he knew that she definitely thought he was the biggest screw-up on the planet, if she even knew he existed. "Wow, you're taking seven AP classes?" Hiccup heard a voice say. He quickly realized it came from Fishlegs. "You do know it's senior year, right?"

Hiccup laughed, "yeah, you know what they say, seven AP's a day keeps senioritis away."

Fishlegs laughed at his sarcasm, "like the valedictorian needs to worry about that." Hiccup didn't really hear him as his mind drifted back to Astrid, wondering if she would be in any of his classes this year. He has had classes with her before, not that he ever talked to her, but he was hopeful that maybe she could be a beautiful distraction to boring high school lectures.

The day went by as normal as it could for an abnormal person like Hiccup. After the bell rang to dismiss the school to their last class of the day, Hiccup trudged through the hall to AP Chemistry a little disappointed. So far he had been to six of his seven classes without Astrid Hofferson. Hopefully, hopefully she would be in his final class of the day. This was his last chance. He entered the door to chemistry and he felt his chest flutter. There she was, sitting perfectly in the front of the room. Hiccup's mind did mental flips as he took his seat in the back of the room.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Astrid Hofferson woke up in a similar manner to Hiccup as she stared perplexed at her alarm clock going off at 6:00 am. It too took her a moment to comprehend why her favorite song was blaring at such a wee hour of the morning. "Senior year!" She smiled excitedly as she jumped out of bed. This was her year. She was the most popular, prettiest, most athletic girl in the school. She pretty much could have her pick at any college she wanted. This year was going to be amazing for her. She was going to rule the school. Astrid walked over to her closet to pick out her outfit for the first day of school, but it quickly dawned on her that she really had very little choice in that matter. As student body president, she was required to wear a neon yellow shirt on the first day with the words "Berk High School Vikings" printed on the front in bold, black letters and a picture of a man wandering through a dessert with a speech bubble stating, " _Lost? What are you talking about, I'm not lost_ " on the back. That way she could easily be spotted by confused freshmen trying to find their way around school. Not the most ideal first day of school outfit, but she knew no one would say anything because of her school status. Besides, if someone truly had the guts to approach her, she would sock them square in the jaw.

Normally Astrid wouldn't worry about wearing make-up to school because of her natural beauty, but she decided that a little eye liner and mascara would help contrast the neon t-shirt and black skirt. Unlike most of her friends, Astrid always believed that natural beauty was the best. She thought that a face full of foundation made people look as if they just stepped out of a circus ring. She was the "it" girl- it wasn't like anyone was going to call her out for not wearing make-up. Besides, even if they did, she would sock them square in the face in order to knock a little sense into them. And make-up or no make-up, she couldn't avoid Scott's constant flirting with her. Sure he was the most attractive guy in the school, the quarterback of the football team, and the most sought after boy by all the girls in the school. However, he was a jerk and cared for no one but himself. Everyone told her that it would make perfect sense of them to date: Astrid being the most popular girl and Scott being the most popular guy, but she had more important things to worry about. She had to keep up her grades one more year so she would at least get to walk across the stage at graduation as Salutation.

When Astrid finished getting ready, she sauntered down to breakfast. She wasn't planning on eating at home as some friends had invited her and many other people to breakfast at someone's house. Still, she wanted to kiss her parents goodbye before heading out the door. Her father had his head buried in the morning paper and didn't notice her walk in the room. He startled when he felt something lightly kiss his cheek and looked up to see his daughter's sapphire eyes glowing brightly. "You're up early," he stated, looking a little confused.

"First day of senior year, dad," she chirped as she skipped off to hug her mother. "I'm going to a friend's house for breakfast, hope that's okay," she said, dancing off to retrieve her backpack. She knew her parents wouldn't oblige. Being the only child, she usually got her way pretty easily.

Astrid arrived at the senior breakfast, she thought was a little early. She had hoped to be one of the first people there like she always was, but seeing a line of cars up and down the street, she knew otherwise. "Hey babe," Scott greeted and met Astrid with a sloppy smile. He stood so close to her that Astrid could smell the hint of vodka on his breathe. She quickly backed away from him as she felt him inch closer and closer.

"Seriously, you're drinking already? It's freakin' 6:30 am on a Monday," she glared accusingly at him. "What do ya expect, babe. I gotta have some way to make it through the day." Astrid scoffed and walked away from him. She could never understand why he loved to drink so much as she never could see the fun in getting drunk. Astrid didn't drink but she always had a red solo cup of water at parties so her friends would believe that she was. It was just easier that way. While she was a fierce warrior of a girl, Astrid knew that she couldn't reason with drunks. Astrid spotted her best friend, Ruff in the corner of the house. She had just piled a plate with eggs, bacon, and waffles. Ruff too saw Astrid and leapt over to her.

"Can't believe it's senior year!" she shouted trough a mouthful of food.

"Ew, you're disgusting. Didn't your mother ever teach you not to talk with your mouth full," Astrid teased.

Ruff punched Astrid in the arm. "Bitch!" Astrid laughed. Her best friend didn't get her nick-name for nothing. Ever since she was a little girl, she would always be picking fights and screwing around with her twin brother who also was dawned the nick-name "Tuff."

"So I've heard lots of rumors that you're the favorite to win the state cross country championship this year," Ruff uttered through yet another mouthful of food. For a pretty girl, she definitely didn't act that way.

"I know," Astrid proclaimed while flipping her long blonde braid over her shoulder.

"Okay then, Miss Humble." It was true. Astrid knew how good she was and never had a problem admitting it. No one dared to criticize her about this attribute because they all knew she had the stats and reasons to back up her self-confidence.

When Astrid arrived at school, she took her place at the front of the building to help usher the clueless freshmen to their class. She couldn't help but laugh maliciously at their ignorance and think to herself how she was never a stupid freshman like they were. Although, she could tell that some of the freshmen boys weren't truly lost- they just wanted to get the chance to talk to her and throw a few flirtatious comments her way. Astrid couldn't help but enjoy this feeling of power and supremacy. By the time the last few buses arrived, Astrid had had enough of helping the freshmen and she decided to make her way to her homeroom in order to pick up her class schedule. When she walked through the door of her homeroom, she saw the familiar chiseled face with a sly smirk on it. "Hey," she said annoyed as she tried to slip by him, well aware of his eyes glued to the front of her chest. Why wouldn't he leave her alone? He was always following her to her classes, trying desperately to win her over. She had rejected him for years! Why didn't he get that not so subtle hint! Scott announced to her and pretty much the rest of the class that he witnessed the funniest, most stupid thing ever by the nerdiest, weirdest kid ever. He recounted the story of Hiccup's incident in the parking lot, stretching the details a little, definitely trying to impress Astrid.

"Yeah, he like made ten cars crash into each other when he fell. Would've been more if I didn't step in with these guns," he said, pointing to his biceps. "If I were them, I would have just run the little nerd over. My car is worth more than he ever will be." At first Astrid couldn't quite put her finger on the scrawny kid he was talking about. The story itself made her laugh to herself, but she couldn't help feel a slight bit sorry for him. She quickly pushed that feeling aside when it dawned on her just who this Hiccup kid was. She had had several classes with him throughout her high school career. He always got better grades than she did. She knew he was the one and only person in the class with a high GPA than her. What made her dislike him even more was just how naturally smart he was. Sure Astrid was naturally smart, but she also worked her ass off for her grades. She couldn't help but despise the fact that Hiccup could get away with doodling mechanical designs in class instead of paying attention to the teacher. Astrid mentally punched herself for even thinking about the little nerd. He didn't matter at all. She was Astrid Hofferson after all. Still,, she desperately had to suppress the twinge of jealousy she felt when she thought about Hiccup. She didn't hate him for say, she just hated the fact that he was number one in the class and not her. She wanted to be the best at everything and he was the one person that was getting in her way.

Astrid's day went by without any major events or drama. Her five AP classes droned by in the same manner: get the syllabus, talk about it, listen to the teacher go on and on about class expectations. At least she was relieved to be put in the same lunch class as Ruff and some other friends. That would break up the day. But by the time her final class of the day, AP Chemistry, rolled around, she was more than ready to go to cross country practice. Due to her strong, quick legs, Astrid arrived in chemistry before anyone else. She selected her seat in the front of the room and sat down. She got her phone out while she waited for the rest of the class to file in. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted a tall, lanky kid trudge in. She felt her stomach lurch. "Why does he have to be in this class?" she asked herself. Astrid secretly wanted to be the smartest person in all her classes and she knew that this was not the case whenever he turned up. She also knew from experience that he would make lots of snarky comments over the course of the year that would cause her to start fuming inside as she could not punch someone in the middle of class. "Just please don't talk to me," she murmured inaudibly and returned to the screen of her phone.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"We will be learning a lot of material throughout the course of the semester as this class is very challenging, and blah blah blah," Hiccup heard his teacher say. He really wasn't paying much attention to her as the beautiful blonde girl at the front of the room was much more captivating. He imagined what it would be like to hold those small soft hands or kiss those perfectly pink lips. "I will be assigning lab partners tomorrow," Hiccup heard his teacher, Ms. Lyser say and he suddenly snapped out of the clouds. "These will be your lab partners for the semester. I am in charge and therefore no ifs, ands, or buts about it. That is final." Hiccup knew she wasn't kidding about this as Ms. Lyser had quite the reputation for being a stickler to all of her nit-picky rules. Hiccup thought to himself just how great it would be if he got paired up with Astrid. A whole semester of working at her side. She would have to appreciate him because he was exceptionally good at chemistry and would definitely get them a good grade. But then he laughed to himself at that thought. He was Hiccup, the nerdy awkward boy who had no friends. Hell would have to freeze over before Astrid would like him.

"Too bad I can't throw a football. That would surely get me a girlfriend," he daydreamed.

"How was yer first day?" a large Scottish man with one arm and one leg asked Hiccup as he entered the computer shop later that evening. The large man, Gobber, had lost an arm and a leg fighting in the army when he was a young man; however, this didn't stop him from working as he was able to attach various tools to his prosthetic arm.

"Terrible," he groaned as he picked up a silicon chip from the table.

"Well that's too bad, lad. Ya jus' gotta stop being all 'this,'" he said as he gestured to Hiccup.

"You just pointed to all of me."

"Yeah, jus' stop being all this."

"Thanks Gobber," Hiccup grumbled as he tinkered with the chip. Hiccup had been working in the computer repair shop with Gobber ever since he was little, well littler. Gobber and Hiccup's father had grown up together and had been best friends ever since they were boys on their pee-wee football team. Stoick had noticed his son's natural inclination for knowing how things worked and putting parts together, so he asked his longtime friend to take his son into the computer shop and show him a few things in order to keep him occupied. Hiccup enjoyed the opportunity to help Gobber and Gobber loved how easily Hiccup learned and worked.

As Hiccup worked away, he told Gobber about his day, including the parking lot mishap and his class with Astrid. "Ya sound like yer father when he first layed eyes on yer mother. Gods he wouldn't shut up about her. He said she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and ya know what, he wasn't wrong. And ya knew what I told him?" Hiccup didn't have time to answer before Gobber continued with his story. "I told him to pull his balls out of his back pocket and ask her out. And, lad? He did and the rest is history!" Gobber sat back in his chair and chuckled to himself.

"I'm not my father, Gobber. He was always the strongest boy and I'm, well I'm me."

"Ya never know lad. She may go for the fishbone type" Hiccup just sighed. He knew perfectly well. If he ever dared to approach her, much less ask her out, he knew he would wind up with a broken nose or a broken jaw. Besides, she was too focused on other things for a real relationship. If she said no to Scott, she would say no to anyone.

The next day, Hiccup arrived at school early so he wouldn't run the risk of bumping into Scott in the parking lot again. Getting up earlier was always better than getting harassed by him. Luckily for Hiccup, Scott decided to sleep in after his first day celebrations the previous night; therefore, the smaller boy was able to make it into the building safely. He was careful to conceal his excitement for chemistry class throughout the day. He couldn't wait to lay his eyes upon her and a little part of him was still hopeful that they would get pair up for lab.

"Okay, listen up!" Ms. Lyser proclaimed to the class. "I will be assigning lab partners now. These are your partners for the semester and that's final. If you come whining to me like a baby because you don't like your partner, I will look at you and laugh." Hiccup heard her rattle off partners, only half listening for his name. The other half of him had his eyes glued to the head of a very pretty girl in front of him. "Haddock, Hofferson," Ms. Lyser boomed. "You will be working together." Hiccup jumped. He could feel his heart thump in his chest and had to look around to make sure no one else could hear it. He also had to squelch a little cheer that echoed throughout his mind. He was surely dreaming. This couldn't be happening. That very thing he had be praying for since yesterday had actually come true. These good fortunes never happen to Hiccup. Ever. He's Hiccup, the boy with all the bad luck.

"Thank you, gods," he whispered. His elated mood didn't last long as he stole a glace in Astrid's direction. Her beautiful face was wrinkled into a look of disgust and disappointment. He could tell that she was about to protest, but then quickly stopped herself for she knew that she would get nowhere with Ms. Lyser, despite how fierce Astrid was. Hiccup inadvertently met Astrid's crystal blue eyes and saw a harsh scowl creep across her face. Self-consciously, Hiccup looked away and slumped back in his seat.

Ms. Lyser instructed the class to meet with their partners in order to start planning the pre-lab for the experiment that was to take place for the end of the week. "I warned you this class moves fast," Ms. Lyser announced to the class. Hiccup stayed in his seat, waiting for Astrid to make the first move. When she didn't after several minutes, he hesitantly got up from his desk and approached her.

"What?" she glared as she shot a look of anger in Hiccup's direction.

"Ugh, um, the pre-lab," Hiccup mumbled, mentally bracing himself for the impact of Astrid's first upon his face.

"I'll take care of it, just stay out of my way," she groaned, growing more and angry by the second and obviously not wanted to talk to Hiccup any longer.

"But doesn't partner mean two?" Hiccup remarked sarcastically. Astrid look him up and down as if he were a two-headed dragon.

"I said I got this," she snarled and her eyes narrowed into two magnificent slits. "I don't need your dorky brain to get me an A in this class. I'm just as smart as you." Hiccup's stomach churned in humiliation as he quickly backed away to his desk.

"So much for a dream come true," he thought. "She hates me already and I've hardly said two words to her."

As Hiccup glumly trekked to his car in the parking lot, he ran into Fishlegs. His friend had a stupid grin on his face that greatly contrasted the look of disappointment on Hiccup's. "What's got you so happy?" Hiccup asked, although truthfully, he didn't want to know as his own heart felt crushed beneath his sternum. He couldn't just ignore his best friend's happiness. That just isn't who he is.

"Ruff talked to me!" he blabbed sounding like a middle school girl. "We have health together and she actually talked to me!"

"That's great!" Hiccup cheered, genuinely happy for his large friend. "What did she say?"

"Well, to be honest, I'm not really that sure. I know it was something about her summer, but honestly, I was so surprised that she said something to me that I didn't really catch the rest!" Hiccup laughed. "You can't tell me that in that big head of yours, there isn't enough room for more than one thought?" Hiccup teased sarcastically.

"Very funny."

"I guess taking that on-level health class will really pay off!"

"You know I need that to graduate!"

"Oh, you wouldn't believe what happened in chemistry today," Hiccup stated. "I got paired up with Astrid Hofferson to be lab partners."

"Now's your chance!" Fishlegs cheered and Hiccup chuckled quietly. "You've been crushin' on her since the first day of freshman year!"

"Yeah if she didn't hate my guts already than this would be perfect!"

Hiccup arrived in chemistry class on Friday with two pages of written procedure. Sure, Astrid had told him to stay out of his way and that she would take care of the pre-lab, but Hiccup couldn't help but hate the feeling of not doing school work. At their lab table, Astrid caught sight of the procedure and snatched it from under the elbow Hiccup had resting on it. She took the paper and waved it in front of his face, "what did I tell you about staying out of my way! What? Do you think I'm stupid and aren't capable of doing it on my own?" Hiccup cowered on his lab bench desperately wanting to disappear. He shook his head slightly, avoiding making eye contact with the goddess of rage. "Let's just get this over with," she muttered.

"So we are obviously using your procedure," Hiccup remarked in a sarcastic tone. By the look in Astrid's eyes, Hiccup knew she would have punched him hard in the face if they weren't sitting in the middle of class with one of the strictest teachers from the school.

"You're lucky we are in lab or you would be on your back crying for your mommy."

"Well I guess chemicals aren't the only thing to explode in this lab," Hiccup uttered quietly. At this remark, Astrid grabbed the front of his lab apron and pulled him towards her. Hiccup could feel her eyes burning through his sole like little blue lasers.

"Shut the fuck up or you'll be sorry," she hissed through gritted teeth.

Hiccup cursed himself for using sarcasm towards Astrid. Why couldn't he keep his big mouth shut? He tried to focus on the minute tasks Astrid assigned him such as retrieving chemicals and cleaning beakers, but his mind replayed their interaction over and over again. Even though she was extremely harsh and demeaning, Hiccup couldn't help feel a twinge of happiness that she, Astrid Hofferson, had touched him. He looked down at his lab apron, still wrinkled from her death grip on him. Unfortunately for Hiccup he happened to reach for a beaker at the exact same time Astrid did. When he saw her graceful hand moving towards his, he quickly retracted it. The last thing he wanted was to get in her way and anger her even more than his mere presence did. This inadvertent act by Hiccup received yet another menacing glare from the beautiful blonde girl. "Th-that one's n-not clean yet," Hiccup stuttered.

"I thought I told you to clean them all," she stormed.

"Y-yeah. I know. I'm getting there. I'm not some high powered dish-washer you know," Hiccup muttered, again avoiding eye contact. Hiccup knew that if he accidently caught even one of her gorgeous blue eyes, he would start stuttering worse than a broken record. Much to Hiccup's surprise, his lab partner stayed quiet. However, it didn't stay that way for long as Hiccup's right arm began to throb from a violent impact.

"That's for getting in my way, and that's for everything else," she groaned through her teeth as she took Hiccup's arm and twisted it back in an unnatural way. Hiccup yelped in pain, but he still felt an electric shock of joy travel down from the arm where she touched him a spread to the rest of his body. It was sure going to leave a bruise, but at least it would be a physical reminder of her touch.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Astrid couldn't believe her ears. The words of "Haddock, Hofferson" that erupted from her chemistry teacher's mouth reverberated throughout her mind and sent chills down her spine. Of all the people in her class, she just had to get paired up with the most annoying, nerdiest kid in the class. This was going to be a long year. She almost opened her mouth to complain to her teacher, but then she realized who that teacher was. She had heard rumors from the other kids on her cross country team that she once sent a kid to the office for sneezing and disrupting her class. Astrid was not about to have her perfect discipline record tainted in her senior year. That nerdy kid was definitely not worth her reputation. "You're Astrid Hofferson, you can deal with this. You can deal with anything," she assured herself. Besides, he would probably be scared of her like the rest of Berk High School and leave her alone to go about her own business. Either that or he would try unsuccessfully to flirt with her. Just the thought of Hiccup flirting with her made Astrid shutter. As the blonde girl took her seat at the lab table and tied her apron around her slim waste, she caught sight of a sheet of paper, neatly typed and poking out from under Hiccup's arm. Instantly, she knew what it was. "Who does he think he is?" she thought to herself. "Does he think he's so much better than everyone else that I'm not capable of doing a pre-lab?" Astrid could feel the wall of anger rise inside of her, making its way to glowing power in her fists. Oh how much she wanted to punch something- punch Hiccup right now. Instead she snatched the paper from under his bony arm, making him lurch forward a little. Astrid waved the paper at Hiccup and yelled at him for getting in her way again. She saw him slouch back in his chair and the sight of his fear gave Astrid a flicker of joy, strong enough to make her say "let's begin." Her little moment didn't last long as Hiccup shot a sarcastic comment her way. He dared to smart off to her! Did he even know who she is, who he is? The anger boiled in her once again. How was she going to survive an entire year of Hiccup's smart-ass comments? She really, really had to try to keep her fists by her side. In order to keep Hiccup from angering her the least amount possible, she ordered him to clean the beakers. It's not like he could mess that up too badly, she thought to herself. While massing an amount of solid chemical, Astrid accidently looked at Hiccup's eyes, concentrating intently on making a beaker sparkling clean. They were bright green, as green as the forest, glimmering like a lush field of grass in the summer. She had never seen eyes that color before, nor had she seen eyes that gleamed with that much intelligence. What was she doing? She quickly retracted herself from that thought. Why was she looking at the eyes that belonged to this nerd? His eyes didn't matter, he didn't matter.

Astrid reached out a slim arm for a beaker that was sitting in the middle of the lab table. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Hiccup doing the same. She didn't care. She was going to assert her dominance and grab that beaker no matter what. Much to her relief, Hiccup's hand retracted back to his side. He said it wasn't clean yet. Of course, he couldn't follow the simplest of orders! But there was that sarcasm again. This time, she couldn't hold back her fists any longer. They had too much anger boiling in them that needed to be released. She felt her fist strike a bony arm. Her rage was still there. She then took that twig of an arm and twisted it in order to inflict as much pain as possible. She saw the scrawny boy sink further and further into his lab stool. At least she finally felt better now.

Astrid had never been happier in her life to hear the bell ring at the end of the day. It sounded like the bells of an angel welcoming her into heaven. She slumped to her locker to retrieve her cross country clothes and shoes. "Just kill me now. It's the first week of school and I'm ready to explode!" she fumed to no one in particular. At least she knew she would have a good practice today with all the anger and resent that had been boiling in her since the very beginning of lab.

After changing and walking out of the door of the school, she heard heavy footsteps behind her. Turning around, she caught sight of Scott making his way towards her. "Hey babe, where are you going off to?"

"I need to go to practice," she hissed impatiently.

"How about tonight? You going to the party at Ruff and Tuff's house? Cuz you know, you can totally go with me," the large boy pleaded, pursing his lips together in a fish-like manner.

"No, I'm good."

"But babe, you know you want to. You just seem way to tense. Once you come to your senses you'll definitely want to go with me."

"Go fuck yourself, Scott." Astrid didn't say anything else as she walked as fast as she could away from Scott. That encounter was definitely not what she needed today. She could feel the anger within her increase with vengeance. At least she knew she always had the best runs when she was angry; however, she just needed a few minutes alone in her car before she would be able to function in public. The skinny runner climbed in her back seat and pounded her fists into the leather seats, one after another. With each successive hit, she felt a massive weight being lifted from deep within her chest. Astrid got so caught up with beating the crap out of her car's seats that she lost track of time.

"Fur such a fast girl, yer always the last to show up ta practice," a large two-limbed man scolded Astrid. She muttered something under her breath that was inaudible to her giant coach. "Yev gotta tempo run on the track today," Gobber instructed. Tempo runs were Astrid's least favorite thing to do, especially on the track. She had sixteen dreadful laps seeing the same sights over and over again, with only her thoughts to entertain her. Luckily, it was still the beginning of the season so her pace wasn't too fast, well for her at least. Once again she would have to do the workout with the boy's team.

Sure enough, Astrid's anger propelled her little legs around the track with great intensity. She was well under her goal pace for the day and could see that Gobber was very pleased with her. After a short cool down, a wave of relief swept over her as she welcomed the weekend. However, the fact that she had to type up the chemistry lab report on her own sat heavily in the back of her mind. Astrid attempted to push away that thought and instead focus on the excitement of the party at Ruff and Tuff's house that night.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"How could I be so stupid?" Hiccup groaned. "I always find a way to make everyone around me hate my guts." Hiccup sat on his large leather sofa at home, hoping to catch a few z's before work; however, his mind would not shut up about the events that had unfolded in chemistry an hour earlier. Toothless could sense that something was off with his best friend as Hiccup would usually have been passed out by now. The large black cat jumped up on the couch next to Hiccup and affectionately nuzzled Hiccup's face. "Thanks, Bud. I definitely needed that," Hiccup sighed and recounted the woeful story to his best friend. "At least you love me." Toothless let out a meow of agreement and curled up at Hiccup's feet.

Hiccup's mind was plastered on the thought of the perfect blonde girl. "If only I was more muscular," he thought quietly. His daydream about achieving rippling biceps and a toned chest was abruptly interrupted by the sound of the front door swinging open. Hiccup could hear the sound of giant steps and knew without a doubt that his father was home from work. The boy slumped off the couch and slowly approached his father as he was bent over removing his massive shoes. "Hey, uh dad," Hiccup began timidly. "So I was uh thinking that um maybe I could possibly get a gym membership. You know to like work out and gain some muscle mass." Hiccup's heart fell as he heard his father's thunderous laugh bellow from deep inside him.

"You? A gym membership? Are you joking? You wouldn't be able to lift anything in there! Might as well get you a feather set!" Hiccup was both disappointed and furious at his father. He slowly backed away, defeated, before his father could make any more jibes at his son's lack of strength.

"So how was it with the girl? I trust that why yew were late- really hitting it off," Gobber teased. Hiccup, on the other hand was really not in the mood for playful gibes.

"Well I managed to screw everything up without really doing anything," Hiccup admitted dolefully. "I guess that takes talent, right?"

"Aye, lad, she'll come around. Ye do have a knack of creating disaster, but yer prurty good with these computers," the older man acknowledged.

"Um, thanks? I guess?" The only good thing that Hiccup got out of his lab experience earlier was that he would not have to do the post-lab report over the weekend. Astrid made it exceptionally clear that he was to have no part in it whatsoever. After his move on the pre-lab, Hiccup was definitely going to oblige to her orders this time.

Hiccup stared at a mess of wires in front of him, trying to pin-point the exact problem for the glitch in the monitor. Usually, Hiccup loved these sorts of mind puzzles as he would often pretend that the wires were connected to a ticking time bomb. Only he could save the world if he found a way to attack each wire in the correct place. Today, however, the wires only resembled the complex and chaotic network of arteries and veins, branching from the heart. Oddly, this metaphor resembled Hiccup's love life at the moment- utterly distressing. Hiccup could feel Gobber's experienced eyes glaring down at him. This definitely didn't help. It only made him more frustrated. "The one thing I never mess up, I mess up," Hiccup grumbled. "Some people screw up a math problem or a deadline. No, not me. I manage to screw up my entire life!" Hiccup screeched as he grabbed a handful of wires. "Ow!" he exclaimed as the end of one of the copper wires caught the skin of his palm, tearing it slightly to the point of blood. Suddenly, an idea came to Hiccup as he squinted at the mess of wires in front of him.

It was something his father had told Hiccup ever since he was a young boy. "Son, I have something very important to say," Stoick would begin.

"Oh great, here it comes," Hiccup would groan.

"Sometimes you can't fix everything at once," he would explain. "There comes a point where you stare at a problem for so long that it seems to develop its own devilish ways. You have to step back and wait. The solution will come. Back when I was a young lad in the military, we would sometimes find ourselves cornered by our enemies, with no plan on how to counterattack or escape. The situation would have our nerves riled to the point where our minds simply shut off. But somehow, if we took a deep breath and envisioned our troop away from battle, a brilliant plan would come to us."

"That's it!" Hiccup cheered, a little too loudly so Gobber raised an eye brow at the boy. "I think I know what to do!" Normally Hiccup would never begin to heed is father's advice, but he thought this once would be okay.

"And what may tha be?" Gobber looked at him, utterly confused.

"Do nothing." Hiccup replied.

"Fer such a smart lad, ya sound as if yew were hit in ye head by som'in."

"No, I mean leaving Astrid be. Taking a step back from her and letting her do what she wants. She's overly competitive…I get it. She just wants to be the very best. And to make matters worse, I keep making stupid comments every time I open my mouth in lab, so if I just stayed completely quiet and pretended she wasn't even there, then I'll be good and will stop looking like an idiot!"

The large, two-limed man still wasn't convinced, "And yer sure this will work? Yew said it yerself, lad, she hates yer mere presence in the room. Not talking int gonna change that."

Hiccup did a face-palm, "At least let me try, try and take a step back from the situation and re-evaluate."

"Sound jus like yer father there."

Hiccup still felt a swing of excitement and hope from his idea back in the computer room with Gobber. He really, really, really hoped it would work. The only problem that Hiccup could foresee was being so enamored by Astrid that he would forget his plan and say something stupid. He just hoped he had enough willpower to overcome that captivating sapphire gaze of hers. The fact that Hiccup was still thinking about Astrid hours after they left lab was not a very promising sign. Hiccup would just have to find a way to get over her by Monday. He laughed at his own comment as he had been trying to do that since freshman year with no positive results. It wasn't until he got upstairs that Hiccup realized just how tired he was. He decided to go to bed early and hoped that he would be able to rid his mind of the entrancing goddess just long enough to fall asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Astrid got home from cross country practice utterly exhausted. The week had definitely taken its toll on her. She collapsed on her bed, still sweaty from practice. Oh how easy it would be to just close her eyes and sleep the entire weekend away. But Astrid knew that she couldn't do that because of the party at Ruff and Tuff's house that night; she had promised Ruff that she would be there and Astrid was definitely not one to back out of promises. She truly was looking forward to the party earlier in the day because parties meant games and she was the champion at all games. And the other thing that Astrid liked about parties was the drunk watching. Because Astrid was pretty much one of the only people at those parties to not drink, she would have a front row seat for all the stupid shenanigans that her drunk friends decided to partake in. This party was exceptionally promising for drunk watching as it was the first big party of the year thrown by Ruff and Tuff. Kick-off parties always got wild and crazy. Astrid figured she would be ready to go if she got a quick nap in, but she was definitely afraid that her "quick" nap would turn into a hibernation. Instead, she hoped that a nice warm shower would wake her up and get her in the mood to socialize.

As the warm water of the shower trickled over Astrid's face and down the rest of her body, there was one image that she could not get out of her head. Two brilliant emerald eyes pierced her mind and she felt her body swim with warmth. No, that was just the shower, right? Astrid tried to shake the image out of her brain and focus on what she was going to wear to the party. Still, as she was mentally picking out her outfit, she still couldn't shake the image of those forest green eyes. God he torments her even when she is in the sanctity of her shower. "He's gotta be studying with someone, right? No one just gets that smart…especially him." Astrid tried to convince herself. She blamed her tired mind for thinking about Hiccup and assumed that the only reason that she thought of him was because he was so central to her mental fatigue at the moment. Thank God he wouldn't be at the party tonight or else she would definitely punch him hard in the face for all the shit he put her through that week. And to make matters worse, she had to do the whole lab report for him just so they would actually get an A. Or at least that's what Astrid kept telling herself. She had desperately wanted to feel like the smartest again.

Astrid felt something buzz uncomfortably beneath her shoulder. It took her a second to process what the culprit of the uncomfortable feeling was. Groggily, she answered her phone, "Hello?"

"God! Sleeping beauty are you coming or what or do you need to wait until a magic carriage and gown appear."

"Shit!" Astrid looks at the time. She meant to close her eyes for just twenty minutes after her shower before she got ready. Here she was, an hour and a half later and she was still wrapped in her towel, her damp hair clinging to the back of her neck. "I'm coming! I'm coming!" Astrid yelped frantically at her friend on the other end.

"You better," Ruff quipped, "Tuff's hammered out of his mind and is singing karaoke. You really don't want to miss this!"

"I didn't want to miss sleep either," Astrid laughed quietly. "Seriously though, I'll be there in twenty. So much for looking nice. Astrid grabbed the first nice shirt she could find and pulled a black pencil skirt over her still wet thighs. Her hair was an absolute disaster. She was going to dry it and curl it, but sleep had sounded way better than that. Astrid ultimately decided to pull it into a loose side braid and put on her favorite headband. Grabbing her phone and heels, she rushed out the door.

She couldn't believe she had slept for that long. Honestly she felt that she had barely closed her eyes. Astrid knew that Ruff would give her a nice punishment for almost standing her up, but the thought of Tuff singing Brittney Spears made her feel giddy. Astrid could hear the steady boom of the music all the way down the block. Cars were lined all the way down the street, just like they were for the first day of school breakfast. Due to this Astrid had to walk quite a ways. She had originally tried to walk in her heels, but she soon ditched them as she felt like she was going to roll and ankle. She was sure that Gobber would have her head if she managed to sprain an ankle walking to a party.

Sure enough, the first thing Astrid noticed when she walked into the house that was vibrating with music and voices was a large crowd of people gathered in the foyer, cheering on an extremely drunk Scott who was belting "Wrecking Ball" at the top of his lungs. She couldn't help but laugh at his absolute ridiculousness.

"There you are you bitch!" Astrid spun around to find a tipsy Ruff staring at her through the doorway. "How nice of you to join the party!"

"Oh shut up! If you had the week I did you would definitely understand," Astrid said slightly joking but also really meaning it.

"Oh boohoo! Poor you! It's just soooo hard to be soooo perfect! You're just mad because you're paired with the one person who is better than you ever were!" Ruff mocked. Astrid walked over to the tall girl and slugged her in the arm, causing Ruff to lose her balance for a moment. She looked a little confused, but it quickly passed over her as she continued to give Astrid a hard time. "So, you're like totally gonna join Tuff up there, right?"

"Yeah, as soon as I turn into a unicorn," Astrid asserted sarcastically. For some reason Astrid had a strange urge to go up and try to follow his act- one up him. Normally she would have scoffed at this idea even entering her mind, but he just looked like he was having so much fun up there and she really wanted to not have a care in the world. But what would people think of her? They would surely be appalled at her childish behavior if she did that. Honestly, who would remember in the morning? Much to Astrid's delight, her mind was made up for her as she watched Scott hurl his entire stomach contents all over the floor. She was both horrified but also very amused at the scene in front of her. The quarterback's projectile vomit got loud cheers and he looked slightly surprised before picking up where he left off in the song.

The night only seemed to get worse from the vomiting incident. As soon as Scott was done making a complete fool out of himself at the microphone, he immediately went over to Astrid, being as seductive as his drunk ass would allow him to be. He staggered toward her and immediately put his meaty hand on the top of her shoulder. She was thankful he was so drunk that she could easily slither away from his touch. "Comon babh," he slurred, "theresaroom waitin furus uptheres."

"What you need is to go home and go to your own bed," she hissed at him, outright annoyed.

"Oly ifya cum wif…" He couldn't even finish that drunken comment before Astrid's boney fist struck him across the jaw and he collapsed to the floor in a crumpled heap. Astrid couldn't bask in her victory for long before something wet hit the backs of her legs. She quickly spun around to find a Tuff, stooped over behind her, wiping vomit off his chin. Astrid gagged as she realized what had hit her leg. Apparently Scott wasn't the only one to get so shitfaced to induce projectile vomiting.

"Great. Just great," Astrid muttered to herself. She was furious; her whole body was flaming. She knew she had to get out of there before she went on a punching rampage.

Astrid found Ruff in the middle of crowd of drunk teenagers shouting "shots, shots, shots!" Before the tall girl could pound back her shot of vodka, Astrid snatched her away from the back of her shirt. "What the fuck?" Ruff asked, looking both annoyed and confused.

"Your idiotic brother puked all over me. I am taking a shower here and leaving. Guard the door and make sure no one tries to bring the party in there with me," Astrid snapped, eyes narrowed. She stomped up the stairs and made her way down the hall. She barged into the bathroom and flipped on the light switch. "Ah!" Astrid jumped as she caught a glimpse of two very naked people feverishly making out in the bathtub. That was definitely a sight she did not want to see, especially as she immediately recognized the guy as one of the football players. Whatever. She didn't really need a shower that desperately. She flew down the stairs, through the kitchen for paper towels, and out the door. It was only the first official party of the year, but already Astrid was sick of them.

Astrid slept in the next morning, not because she was hung over as she was sure Ruff and Tuff and Scott were, but because she was so utterly exhausted from the first week of school. "So much for running early," Astrid thought to herself. This was probably the first Saturday in months that she had forgone running before noon. Oh well, she definitely needed her sleep.

"Mornin' sunshine!" her father greeted her as a very disheveled looking Astrid trudged down the stairs to get something to eat. Astrid glared at her father as she knew he was making fun of her bedhead and chipper expression that morning. "How was the party?" her father questioned. Astrid really didn't want to talk about it because she was still pissed at both Ruff and Tuff for getting so drunk.

"Fine," she grumped. Her father read into her lie.

"Oh no, what happened?"

"Too many drunk teenagers," Astrid replied honestly.

"Well I'm very proud of you for not drinking. That's very mature of you," the man commended.

"Thanks, dad." The truth is, Astrid really had no interest in drinking whatsoever. First of all, alcohol would not help her running at all. And frankly, the thought of being drunk both terrified her and disgusted her. She was one to always be in control of the situation. Losing control over her body and mind was definitely not on her top list of things to do for fun. In addition, alcoholism ran in Astrid's family. She had witnessed far too many aunts, uncles, and cousins ruin their lives and the lives of those around them because they were not able to stop drinking.

Astrid was unsure what she wanted to do this Saturday as it was one of the only weekends all fall where she didn't have a cross country meet. Honestly, she really just felt like being lazy and watching Netflix, but she was Astrid Hofferson, she was never lazy. "Welp, I better get started on this stupid lab report that my stupid lab partner left me," she grumbled. She knew deep down that it wasn't Hiccup's fault at all. She was the one that brought this on herself by telling him to stay out of her way, but she definitely wouldn't allow that thought to surface. Pretending to be mad at him was a whole lot easier than admitting he was better than she. "This is chemistry, how bad can it be?" she thought to herself. However, looking at the directions for the lab report changed her mind. There in bold print, Ms. Lyser had written

 _The lab report is a tool to demonstrate what you have learned during a particular lab. You are to include four specific sections in this order: introduction, procedure, experimental, and results. The introduction is to include background information that relates to the overall purpose of the lab. You will need to do additional research for this section, making sure to cite all outside sources. Give enough information so that someone knows exactly what the lab is about. The procedure section should be similar to the pre-lab that you have already prepared. You may use the basis of the pre-lab, but be sure to include exactly what you did during the lab. That means every little step. Do not merely list out the steps. They should be written in complete sentences and in paragraph form. The experimental section is the part where you include quantitative and qualitative data that you collected during the lab. You may need to include graphs, figures, and other visual elements to fully represent your data. DO NOT analyze your data here. The results section is where all analysis, errors, and interpretations should be included. Make your final conclusions about the experiment here. Make sure to include a cover page. THIS SHOULD BE NO LESS THAN 10 PAGES!_

Astrid groaned when she read this. Ten pages! Holy crap! This is going to be so much work. She was really glad that she did not save this until Sunday night, as she was sure most of her class would do. But again, at least her classmates hadn't told their partners that they would do the whole stinking thing. She would crank this out and she would do it right. It wasn't like she had anything else to do this weekend.

Later than night after Astrid's butt had pretty much fallen completely asleep from sitting at a computer all day, she decided that she needed to get out and let out some steam. The gym was the perfect place for this- the release of endorphins and muscle tension was just what Astrid needed. Quickly, she gathered her gym bag and brushed through her disheveled hair, and rushed out the door.

Just like Astrid had expected, the gym was practically empty. A few middle-aged men were lifted and walking on the treadmill, but the whole back room was completely empty. Astrid turned on the lights to the room and put on her boxing gloves. With each successive punch to the massive, black bags, Astrid could feel her mood getting better and better. She welcomed the familiar feeling of the sweat beads dripping down her forehead. That meant that she was working hard- that she was fierce.

Astrid's lean muscles rippled upon impact with the bag. Despite who skinny she was, that girl could pack quite the punch. Others were often amazed by how much she could lift at the gym, definitely rivaling many of the guys. Strength was yet another thing on Astrid's list that she worked infinitely hard at, dedicating hours to iron and weeks to goals. Strength was confidence.

Astrid couldn't remember the last time she looked forward to a Monday at school. She was so ready to get the weekend over with between the lab report and the party; however, the gym did make her feel better for a little bit. Now that the school year had really kicked off, she had many responsibilities as class president to look forward to. She loved being the leader of her peers and reveled in her power.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Hiccup woke up extremely early the following morning. "Great, just great," he muttered as he attempted to fall back asleep with no avail. That always happened to him when he went to bed early. Well, he might as well make the most of his early wake up. He got up and saw Toothless still sound asleep at the foot of his bed, snoring softly. "Wanna go for a walk?" Hiccup asked. At this, Toothless's head shot up and the end of his tail flipped eagerly. Hiccup went downstairs to retrieve the harness and leash, almost being tripped by Toothless as he shot towards the door. "Calm down there bud!" Hiccup used to walk Toothless in the wee hours of the morning when he first rescued him in order to not be seen walking a cat by his neighbors. He knew that if someone saw him with a cat on the other end of the harness, they would laugh and poke fun that Toothless wasn't a "real cat." And they were right. He wasn't just a cat, he was his best friend. But that was many years ago. After the initial shock and questions about seeing a cat on a leash, his neighbors had finally accepted it and had stopped with the cruel comments to his father who wasn't so keen on the pet at first either.

Hiccup felt the most free and clear-minded whenever he was walking Toothless. He always had his best ideas on these walks with his best friend whom he could run them over with. Hiccup had also taken these moments when he first rescued Toothless to teach him a few tricks. Over the years, they had perfected them so that Toothless could now sit, stay, jump, roll, hurdle, fetch, and much more on command. Because of Toothless's incredible aptitude at learning commands, Hiccup really believed that he could understand English. That why he was always the best to listen to whatever thought was bouncing around Hiccup's vast mind.

Hiccup and Toothless went on a very long walk this morning, ending up in Astrid's neighborhood, which Hiccup tried to convince himself and Toothless was an accident. "I wonder what she's up to now. Maybe she's out running this morning," Hiccup pondered out loud. Toothless turned back and looked up at Hiccup with eyes that said _I thought you were trying to get over her_. "I know, I know, bud," Hiccup muttered. He was too busy fixing his eyes on Astrid's house, looking at it hopefully, that he didn't pay attention to his footing. His left foot caught a raised crack in the sidewalk and caused Hiccup to land painfully on the concrete. Flashbacks of the parking lot incident on the first day of school came flooding back into his mind. "Great," he grunted. "Well at least neither Astrid nor Scott were here to see this exhibit of my gracefulness." Toothless looked concerned. He had immediately stopped walking and come up to Hiccup, now sitting awkwardly on the sidewalk. The large, black cat sniffed Hiccup's bloody knee and gingerly licked at the line of blood trickling down the boy's leg. "Thanks, Bud," Hiccup uttered as he picked himself up off the sidewalk.

Hiccup spend most of the remainder of the walk focusing on computer programming. He had an idea for a program that would connect all the electronic devices; TVs, light switches, outlets, and even the alarm system without having to pay an exorbitant amount for it (not that his dad did not have a ton of money from being the mayor of their village.) Hiccup just liked doing these things for himself, and he was sure he could come up with a program that was much more effective and idiot-proof than the models currently on the market. He would attempt to use many of the techniques and software that Gobber had taught him all about. Thinking about Gobber made reminded him of his father's own burly appearance and the conversation they had the other day about the gym membership. Hiccup decided that he was going to say something to his father about how he was just kidding about the gym membership. He was going to lie that he really needed to focus more on computer programming and college applications that would not allow him any time for the gym.

When Hiccup returned home from his walk, he was surprised to see his large father occupying the kitchen table, grossly absorbed in the morning paper as he devoured a plate of eggs and toast at such an early hour on a Saturday. The boy was relieved that his father did not notice him when he first entered, that way he wouldn't have to talk to him at that moment. Unfortunately, as Hiccup tried to scurry up the stairs incognito, the floorboard of one of the steps squeaked loudly and his father turned towards him. "Hiccup," he boomed.

"Oh great, what now?" Hiccup murmured inaudibly. "Dad, uh, I have to talk to you, Dad."

"I need to speak with you too, son." They both took deep breaths and started to talk at the same time so neither one of them could understand what the other way trying to express. "What, uh you go first," Stoick tried.

"No, no, no, _you_ go first," Hiccup sputtered.

"All right, I have talked to Gobber about a certain uh _friend_ of yours and we have decided to get you a gym membership to put on some muscle on those bones for her," he bellowed authoritatively.

 _Seriously! Gobber told his father about Astrid! I thought that that would stay between the two of us!_ Hiccup thought angrily. "Oh man, I should have gone first. Because I was thinking, computer programming is a very important skill to have when I go to college so I really think I need to spend as much time with it as possible. I wouldn't have time to go to the gym. And besides, I actually have to apply to colleges this year. That's like a whole 'nother class and a half. "

"What are you talking about?" Stoick asked as he thrust a pair of dumbbells in Hiccup's hand which he definitely struggled to hold up.

Hiccup gulped, "I… don't wanna lift weights."

The large man chuckled, "oh come on, yes you do!"

Hiccup stood there swaying back and forth on his feet awkwardly, "rephrase: dad I _can't_ lift weights."

"But you _will_ lift weights!"

The boy sighed, "no, I'm really very extra sure that I _won't_."

"It's time, Hiccup."

"Can you not hear me?"

"No more of… this," he said as he gestured widely with his hands at Hiccup.

"You just gestured to _all_ of me," Hiccup pointed out.

"Deal?" Stoick boomed.

"This conversation is feeling very one-sided…"

"Deal?" the man boomed again.

Hiccup sighed giving in, "deal."

The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful for Hiccup. It consisted of him finishing homework from the first week of school, reading ahead in his chemistry textbook, and working on his computer program. He tried to get plenty of sleep, but he couldn't manage to turn his brain off for long enough to drift into a slumber. Hiccup woke up on Monday morning with mixed feelings on the day. He wanted to go to school to have the chance at seeing Astrid and maybe talk to her about the lab report that she had insisted on doing over the weekend. But again, she was the one who explicitly directed Hiccup to "stay out of her way" with the lab report. Even with Hiccup's poor social skills, he was smart enough to realize that staying out of one's way was a semi-nice way of saying "leave me alone- I can handle it without your weird brain." He really did not want to be her human punching-bag again.

Hiccup trudged into the large brick structure, hair still sticking up in all directions from the previous night of tossing and turning. When he arrived at his homeroom, he noticed that Astrid was not there yet; however, he did see a very large boy with a very large smile on his face. "You look like you're in a good mood," Hiccup stated sarcastically.

FIshlegs let out a small giggle before taking a deep breath and beginning, "so you know how I have health with Ruff? Well Friday afternoon she invited me to the party at her house. Like she actually talked to me and asked me to come!"

"That's great!" Hiccup chirped, trying to sound as happy as he could for his friend.

"Well that's not all!" Fishlegs cheered, growing more and more excited by the second. He could hardly control his voice from raising two octave. "We talked at the party and then she kissed me! Ruff kissed me!"

"Wow! Are you serious? Was she drunk or something?" Fishlegs face fell and he looked genuinely offended. Hiccup tried to let out a small laugh to try to convince Fishlegs that he was just kidding.

"Yeah, yeah think what you will. I know it to be true. She's my princess now. I think she actually likes me, not that you care."

"No, no, I do believe you. I was just kidding. Haha stupid me messing up again! I think that's great! I'm really happy for you!"

Hiccup couldn't get Fishlegs' story out of his head for the rest of the day. He knew he should be very happy for his friend for finally getting attention from the female gender, but part of him… well most of him couldn't help feel very jealous of him. For as long as they had been in school, Hiccup knew he could rely on Fishlegs to be as awkward with the ladies as he was. FIshlegs was considered a "nerd" too. He always had his head in a book and could spit off random facts as swiftly as a bullet. You name it, Fishlegs knew something about it. In addition, having a friend that was as single as Hiccup made actually being single somewhat bearable. If things ended up progressing with Fishlegs and Ruff, Hiccup was sure to be the only guy in the whole school to never have a girlfriend. Being on a sports team would at least get him noticed. Now, being the star athlete, that would definitely get him a girlfriend.

Hiccup walked into chemistry just before the bell rang. He would have been earlier but the strap on his backpack had somehow managed to get lodged in his locker. That required him to have to awkwardly maneuver to get the pack out. As soon as he stole a glance at the beautiful girl, he knew that she was not in a good mood at all. He eyes were narrowed and her brow was furrowed as she hastily wrote something down in her planner. Every now and then, her unoccupied left hand would fly up and hastily push her blonde bangs back from her face. "Please don't see me, please don't see me!" Hiccup prayed as he took his seat in the back of the room. While Hiccup can usually go very unnoticed, his backpack made a loud thunk as he dropped it by his desk and his shoe caught the edge of the chair, making an awful scraping sound as it slide across the tile flood. Astrid turned around and gave Hiccup the foulest look she could manage and Hiccup could swear that her sapphire eyes were burning holes through his soul. Yup, she was definitely angry.

"I hope everyone did not have too much trouble with your lab reports," Ms. Lyser announced just as the bell rang. "Please place then in the bin at the back of the room or else you will receive a zero as your first lab grade." Astrid was the first to get up to turn in the thick, stabled report.

As she passed Hiccup's desk to make her way to the bin, she shot him yet another death glare and hissed, "I hope you appreciate all the work I did for you this weekend. Soon our parent's world will become our world when we go to college. Figure out which side you're on." She kicked his backpack slightly and went on her way. Hiccup was so confused. It wasn't like he made her do all that work by herself. She was the one who brought it on herself by refusing to allow Hiccup's assistance. Seriously, she can't complain about her own decision! As soon as everyone had returned to their seats, Ms. Lyser began speaking again.

"Labs and lab reports are going to be a weekly occurrence in this class. That is to ensure that you have ample experience before going to college and getting out in the real world. I expect each and every lab report to be held to the same standards, even though I know you teenagers tend to slack off as the semester progresses. Blah blah blah. The schedule of the first lab was different from how it is going to be for the remainder of the semester. Instead of labs being on Fridays, they are now going to be every Wednesday. Lab reports will still be do the following Monday so that way you have the whole weekend to work on them. This is because the remaining labs are longer than the one you did last week as that was a lab to get you familiar with the class. And pre-labs will be checked before you are allowed to enter lab on Wednesdays. Any questions?"

Should Hiccup do the pre-lab for that Wednesday's lab? Astrid gets mad when he does the lab work, and she gets made when he doesn't do the lab work. He was so confused! Might as well just do it. Either way he would probably receive a bruise. Might as well get a good grade out of that bruise.

Wednesday arrived just like any other day; however, Hiccup couldn't shake the nervous feeling all day. Chemistry lab at Berk was special, come to find out. Students started lab during their actual class period, but they also had an hour after school to finish. That meant more time in lab with Astrid. Yay!

"I-I did the pre-lab, if you want," Hiccup stuttered as he nervously slid the paper in Astrid's direction. He turned away from her and braced for impact as she took the paper. He didn't feel his arm sting yet. Slowly, Hiccup stole a glance in her direction. She was intently reading the neat sheet of paper Hiccup provided her with. Her left arm was rested on the top of her forehead and Hiccup could see her eyes scrutinizing the paper. After what seemed like eternity, the girl turned towards him.

"Looks okay," she said dryly and Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully for Hiccup, this lab went much better than the first. They both participated equally and neither of them messed anything up too badly. Of course, there were still disagreements about minor things such as the organization of the chemicals or not having the Bunsen burner ready. But that happened to everyone. Needless to say, Hiccup felt relieved when the end of lab came without any major incidents. The lab report, however, still loomed on Hiccup's mind as they were cleaning up the lab area. He wondered if they would actually work on it together as they seemed to be cooperating fairly well, or if she would insist on doing the whole thing alone again. Finally, Hiccup awkwardly broke the silence.

He cleared his through, "so, um the post lab? Um what did you um want to uh do?"

Astrid stayed silent for a while before saying, "well they are a ton of work. I had to spend the entire weekend on the last one and that was supposedly a short lab." She paused again, but this time for not as long. "I think we should divide and conquer on this one." Her voice sounded like an angel as she spoke quietly to Hiccup. After another slight pauses, she continued, "I guess I really overreacted with the first lab. I know you're extremely competent to do the lab report. I just wanted to feel…you know…" He couldn't help feel relieved. Finally they were actually working together and Astrid actually apologized to him!

"Um, should we like you know um trade numbers?" Hiccup sputtered. He immediately saw a confused expression come across Astrid's previously tranquil face. "Why…oh yeah of course," she sighed. She got something out of her back and placed it on Hiccup's desk. "Here, enter your number in my phone," she said smoothly. Hiccup picked up the high tech electronic device and clumsily put in his number.

Hiccup felt like he was floating as he exited the building. His number was in Astrid's phone! He, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III might get the chance to text Astrid! And he actually somewhat got along with her today. "So much for getting over her," he thought.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Shit!" Astrid panicked as she looked at the time on her phone. "Perfect start to my Monday," she groaned. She must have snoozed her alarm as it was a good half hour later than when she usually gets up. Astrid had been up late the night before putting the finishing touches on her lab report. She had literally spent the entire weekend on that stupid thing and was utterly exhausted from it. Astrid hastily got ready and flew down to breakfast. Kissing her parents good morning, she grabbed a package of Pop-Tarts and flew out the door.

Astrid barely made it to school on time. Even Hiccup was in her homeroom before her. She plopped down at her desk and took out her lab report just to check it over one more time before she officially began her school day. Grasping the ten page packet and instruction paper, she skimmed through quickly but carefully for what she felt like was probably the twentieth time. She was Astrid; therefore, she wanted it to be good. Astrid always but 110 percent effort and felt like she failed if she didn't try her absolute best.

Astrid stole a glance towards the back of the room at Hiccup. He was busy talking to his fat friend whom was doing most of the talking. For a moment Astrid did find herself wondering what Hiccup was listening so intently to. She couldn't remember the last time some had looked at her and listened with that much interest and attention. Perhaps it was her fierce personality.

By the time Astrid got to chemistry at the end of the day, she was exhausted. She maladroitly took out her planner and began to hastily write down her plan of action for the week. She really hoped to allot some time for a nap when she got home from cross country practice that evening. Gods, she could really use a nap. She definitely blamed her fatigue on the weekend, most especially on that stupid lab report. Why did she take AP chemistry again? Chemistry definitely was not her best subject, and it would definitely cause her a lot of additional stress for senior year. Why couldn't she be naturally smart like Hiccup? As if right on cue, she heard a loud clunk from the back of the room. She turned around to see Hiccup had just gotten there and was awkwardly trying to put his stuff down. She scowled at him as he glanced in her direction. She felt a little guilty about the foul look when he really did nothing up until Astrid heard the signal from Ms. Lyser to turn in the lab reports. She was the first to shoot up. She wanted that thing out of her possession as soon as she possibly could. Unfortunately, she had to pass by Hiccup, now sitting slumped over in his desk in the back of the room. He was the reason for this terrible exhaustion headache that had been sitting soundly in her temples for the majority of the day. And he really looked like he didn't care or was even thankful that she did the entire lab report that weekend. As she reached his desk, she shot him another death glare and hissed "I hope you appreciate all the work I did for you this weekend. Soon our parent's world will become our world when we go to college. Figure out which side you're on" in her most vial of voices. To put the cherry on top of her feelings, she slightly kicked his stupid backpack that he had so noisily put down just a few minutes earlier. Again, she felt a twinge of guilt bubbling within her core from the lousy way she was treating the boy. That wasn't her at all. She was usually able to let things slide. Why was she acting this way over a little jealousy?

As Astrid sat back down, she was more than disappointed to learn that they would have another lab the following Wednesday and that it would be longer and more difficult than the previous one. She honestly could not imagine doing more work and spending more time than she had on the one she had just turned in. She struggled with the concepts on this lab, so anything more complicated would absolutely destroy her. Deep down, Astrid knew the solution to this problem. She would have to have Hiccup do some of the work if she was going to keep herself from going completely insane and going on a killing rampage. The girl sigh and rubbed her temples knowing that the answer was just too clear.

Astrid met up with Ruff before changing for that day's cross country practice. Her head was still throbbing, but she was glad to have someone to rant to. Ruff listened the best that Ruff knew how. Still, Astrid had known Ruff long enough to discern that she was thinking about something else. Astrid didn't even have to ask before Ruff uncomfortably began, "sooooo, something happened this weekend."

"What? You got really drunk?" Astrid responded dryly.

"Yeah that too, but something else," she continued. "Please don't judge me or laugh at me, okay?"

"What could you have possibly done that is so stupid for me to laugh? Remember that time when you got your head stuck in the chair? I helped you and didn't say a word. You and Tuff are always doing stupid stuff"

"This is different," she said weakly. "I kissed someone." Astrid felt a twinge in her chest.

"Who was it this time? I can recall several other occasions where you have gotten so drunk that you start to make-out with random people… and things," Astrid remarked sarcastically.

"Okay you know the mop was one time! But um well it was Fishlegs this time," she finally uttered.

Astrid was silent for a second. "Oh that's nice? Did he kiss like a fish?" Astrid laughed at her own quip at the boy's name.

"See, there you go judging me. I knew I shouldn't have told you." Astrid was not sorry for her joke, but she could see her friend was actually offended by it.

"I'm just wondering why you're telling me. I mean you haven't told me about all your drunken smooches."

"Well, to be honest, this one was different. I know Fishlegs is no Channing Tatum, but he is actually a really nice and funny guy," the tall girl confessed. "And for all it's worth, I kinda like them big," Ruff snickered. Astrid was actually impressed yet a little confused. Ruff was a very popular, pretty girl at Berk High School and there she was going for some nice nerd. She didn't care what others thought of her, and Astrid greatly admired that. She could tell her friend was genuinely happy and she was glad she found a guy that sincerely cared about her.

Late Tuesday night, Astrid sat at her desk staring at the overview of their lab for tomorrow. She had done all of her other homework but purposely had saved the pre-lab for last. She still had bitter feelings that had remained from the last lab, so she definitely did not want to start another. Her bed looked at her longingly and called her over with its promised warmth. It was definitely not like Astrid to make assumptions about school work, but something told her that Hiccup would take care of the pre-lab. If she wasn't so damn tired, she would have slapped herself for counting on Hiccup. And besides, she really didn't like chemistry all that much.

When Hiccup slid the lab report over to her the following day in lab, Astrid was so relieved. She would never admit it to Hiccup, but she was actually grateful that he still did it after the way she treated him during the previous lab. She scrutinized the lab report, going over each step in her head. It was good, really good. She was amazed at the amount of details that he included in the procedure. Again, she would never let him know, but she was impressed and a little jealous of the work he did for the pre-lab. Keeping her Astrid persona, she dryly told him that the paper he handed her looked okay. At that moment, she decided to give him an actual chance during lab. He definitely wasn't the lab partner from hell that she had made him out to be. After all, he did save their butts by doing the pre-lab and he was smart.

Sure enough, this lab went a lot more smoothly than the previous one where they bumped heads every two seconds. Chemistry came very naturally to Hiccup as he was able to analyze data and state the purpose of doing a specific step with ease. With both of their minds put together in lab, they were done in no time. Even though the partners proved they could get along, Astrid couldn't help but feel apprehensive about the lab report. _What if he figures out that she doesn't really know what she is doing? Would they have to meet somewhere to work on it together? Will they come up with a good conclusion?_ Astrid thought worriedly. The sound of Hiccup clearing his throat took her out of her trance. "So, um the post lab? Um what did you um want to up do?" he stuttered. Astrid was a little caught off guard and had to think about it for a second. What would be the best way to do this?

"Well, they are a ton of work," she said slowly. "I had to spend the entire weekend on the last one and that was supposedly a short lab." She paused again before continuing, "I think we should divide and conquer on this one." She looked up from the table to see the skinny boy nodding slightly. She took a deep breath and confessed what had been sitting deeply within her for the past few days. ""I guess I really overreacted with the first lab. I know you're extremely competent to do the lab report. I just wanted to feel…you know…" She felt a weight life off her shoulders. She was glad that she apologized. By the look on Hiccup's face, he seemed to understand.

"Um, should we like you know um trade numbers," he stuttered weakly. Astrid was so used to boys asking for her number to hook up, that she automatically assumed that Hiccup was flirting. She stopped herself when the reality of the situation hit her. His voice and his facial expression was so sincere. She took her phone out of her backpack and placed it in front of Hiccup. "Here, enter your number in my phone," she said calmly. She watched as her partner clumsily plugged the numbers in and handed it back to her with a shaking hand. Should she text him her number now? After a little thought, Astrid decided against that after thinking about his great aptitude in chemistry. If anyone was going to have questions about the lab report, it was most likely going to be her.

Thankfully for Astrid, this lab report was so much better than the first one. Sure, it still took several hours to complete, but it was nowhere near as time-consuming as the last. She also found that she understood the concepts better as Hiccup had briefly muttered their significance while they were actually in lab. Because of this, she did not have to text Hiccup with any questions. She figured the less interaction they actually had, the better at chemistry he would think she was. Astrid brought her part of the lab report to class on Monday to join it with Hiccup's. She swiftly took the large stack of papers from Hiccup's outstretched hand and skimmed them over. Just like the pre-lab, these papers were stock-full of details, analysis, and charts. The blonde girl promptly stapled the packet of papers together and sat down, waiting for the cue from Ms. Lyser to turn them in. Once again, she was the first one to jump up from her seat and make her way to the back of the room; however, this time, she gave Hiccup a slight smile instead of the grimace from the previous week. She saw him return the facial expression and then immediately looked away, confused with the feeling that radiated within her.

Cross country practice became increasingly harder that week as the first official meet of the season was that upcoming Saturday. Because Astrid was much better than any girl on her team, including Ruff, she was summoned to do workouts with the boys. Surprisingly, she somewhat liked the boys on the team. She had been running with many of them for four years and had really gotten to know them. Running at least six miles with someone almost every day for four years really allows you to get to know them.

Today's workout was four mile repeats at race pace with a two minute rest in between. _This shouldn't be too bad_ , she thought smugly to herself as she stepped to the starting line on the track to begin. Just as she looked toward her towering, two-legged coach for the cue to begin, she saw lanky, awkward boy walking towards him. _What is he doing here_? she wondered. He most definitely was not on any sports team at Berk High School so he had no reason to be hanging near the track, much less talking to her coach. It had to be pretty important if he was going to interrupt practice as she knew how polite he normally was. She really wanted to get this workout going, and waiting around the track only gave her time to worry about whether or not she could complete the workout to Gobber's expectations. She tried to zone in on the conversation between her lab partner and coach, but she could only make out random snip-its. Finally, she hard Gobber groan loudly and stomp away from Hiccup saying "ah, he's stubborn, nothing ever changes!" in is loud Scottish accent. Coach Gobber re-directed his attention towards the runners on the line and sent them off.

Astrid's strong, skinny legs flew around the first turn in the track. She stayed half a pace behind two of the other boys in her running group. She always let them led one, because they helped pull her along in the workout and two, because the boys had pride issues with letting a girl lead the pack. As Astrid came down the straightaway to complete her first lap, she noticed that Hiccup was still standing on the infield where Gobber was, almost looking as if he saw the track full of man-eating alligators instead of runners. True, there were many different work-out groups running at the same time, but Astrid didn't think it was too difficult to find an opening to cross.

For reasons that Astrid did not know, having Hiccup on the infield watching made her nervous. She got right up on the heel of the leading boy in her group, trying to push the pace. It was like she was trying to impress her skinny lab partner with how fast she could be. The boy, Joe, turned his head slightly mid-stride. "Geez Astrid, this is only mile one! 5k race pace, not sprint pace!"

"Can't handle the heat?" Astrid joked.

"More like can't handle the "beat" when Gobber gets a hold of us. You know how he is when you go to hard too early in the season," Joe responded.

"Yeah, yeah."

After the third mile repeat, Astrid knew she had made a mistake by pushing the pace. She was still able to do the workout, but she definitely made it a lot harder on herself. To make matters worse, she still couldn't get the image of the skinny boy out of her head. The way he watched the track so vigilantly captivated her. She continued to wonder what the heck he was doing on the track.

Astrid finished her fourth and final mile panting. Gobber walked over to her group with a stern expression on his face. "I dint say anything when you lads first started because I believe in learnin' on the job, but that was jus crazy. I said _5k_ race pace! You lads were well under six fer mos' of em!" The boys turned and looked at Astrid.

"What? I felt good!" she retorted.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

As Hiccup went to get into his car at the end of the day, he heard his phone ringing from the bowels of his backpack. He slung the pack off his bony shoulders and began the task of searching for which pocket it had somehow ventured to over the course of the day. Unfortunately for Hiccup, he didn't find it in time before it stopped ringing. Looking at the screen, he saw _Missed Call From Dad_ in a banner across the front. Hiccup was kind of relived that he had missed the call. Usually when Stoick called, it was about some stupid reminder to take the trash out when he got home or to remember to email so and so about whatever. If it was something like that, his father would usually leave a message; however, the few times it was actually important, Stoick would always call a second time. Much to Hiccup's dismay, his phone rang again. "Great, what could he possibly want that is so important?" Hiccup groaned dramatically. He answered reluctantly, "hey dad.."

"I need to speak with Gobber immediately."

"Well, then, you have dialed the wrong number. I am definitely not 300 pounds with two limbs."

"I know. I called him and he won't respond."

"Well dad, have you ever tried something called patience?"

"This is serious. I need to speak with him now. Go find him and tell him to call me ASAP."

"And what is it that's so important that I get to find him and interrupt whatever it is that he is doing?"

"Just find him. Deal?"

Hiccup sighed, "deal…"

Hiccup knew that Gobber was the head coach of Berk High School's cross country and track teams; therefore, he was most likely to be found at the track. He reluctantly trudged over there, knowing that if he did not find Gobber quickly, his father would be in an exceptionally bad mood when Hiccup finally got home. Sure enough, the boy spotted the large man standing alone on the infield, dishing out instructions while holding a wooden clipboard. Well, it was more like attached to a clipboard as it was screwed onto the end of Gobber's left stump. Despite the fact that the coach's extraordinarily towering figure usually overshadowed everyone else, Hiccup's eyes couldn't help but be drawn to a beautiful blonde runner stretching on the edge of the track. For a second, Hiccup forgot his legs were even moving in the direction of the large oval as he was so entranced by her gracefulness as she bent over her legs.

Making his way across the track, Hiccup caught Gobber's attention and the man gave Hiccup a questioning look. The boy rolled his eyes and stood beside the giant. "Ugh,my dad just called me," Hiccup muttered.

"And? How is tha more important than meh practice?"

Hiccup shrugged, "he said it was urgent and you need to call him right away."

"Probly bout oneaf his stupid meetin's again," Gobber gruffed.

"He didn't say anything about what it was."

"Sounds jus like yer father." "S-sorry Gobber. Y-you know how he is," Hiccup acknowledged as he slowly started backing away. Gobber backed away from the boy belting, "ah, he's stubborn! Nothing ever changes!"

Hiccup knew he had no business lingering on the infield of the track, but for some reason, he just couldn't get his legs to move. His eyes glued on the beautiful, skinny, blonde girl on the track. He watched in awe as her strong legs carried her forward with the stealth and grace of a gazelle. She seemed to get faster and faster each step. Hiccup could never fathom how someone could run so fast for such a long distance. Finally, after watching Astrid run for what seemed like ages, Hiccup came to his senses. He saw a gap in the parade of runners and quickly crossed.

When Hiccup finally got home, he was relieved to discover that the house was empty. Well, except for Toothless. The cat really wanted to go out for a walk, even getting so restless that he went and grabbed his harness and leash in his mouth and dropped it at Hiccup's feet. "Okay, okay bud. I take it you want to go walking!" Hiccup and Toothless hadn't gone for a walk since Saturday morning, so Toothless was especially antsy. After securing the harness and leash, the two best friends headed outside. Hiccup had a lot of stories to catch Toothless up on. He told his best bud about his father's 'urgent' phone call as well as the track practice, confessing that he really hoped that Astrid didn't see him watching her so creepily. However, the thing that the boy was most excited to tell his cat was about chemistry today. Astrid smiled at him. Yes, at him. When she passed by his desk to turn in the lab report, he caught her gaze and he saw her lips turn up slightly. That simple gesture made Hiccup's heart melt. For a second, he was so caught up in his own emotions that he had forgotten to return the favor. "That sure beats the grimace and kick from the last lab!" he joked. "Sorry Toothless, I'm sounding really creepy. I just have a big crush, I guess."

Hiccup and Toothless rounded the corner to their street and immediately groaned. The garage door was open, indicating that Stoick was finally home. His manly, red pick-up truck sat massively in the open garage stall. Hiccup prayed that his father had finally gotten a hold of Gobber, or else he was sure to be blamed. The stern look on his face when the duo entered did not seem promising. The massive man, still dressed in his suit and tie turned towards Hiccup, "you did find Gobber, right?"

"Y-yeah. I did. H-he was in the middle of cross country practice," he stammered.

"I did tell you it was urgent, right?" he barked.

"I talked to him and told him what you told me. I'm usually pretty persuasive, I guess just not with Gobber." The large man sighed deeply and shook his head.

"I'll need to have a word with him later." Hiccup was relieved that he wasn't getting blamed anymore. He took the momentary pause as a cue to walk up the stairs to his room; however, his father's voice sounded again. "I'm going to be gone for a few weeks on important business. You're going to have to do a few things for me and make sure no one in our town gets killed while I'm gone."

"Great, you're asking me of all people to look over the town? I wreak havoc on pretty much everything I even look at!" he chuckled weakly.

"I'm serious. This is what I needed to talk to Gobber about. To make sure my village remains exactly how I leave it." He paused for a moment, "one of our neighboring villages is trying to lobby for a law that will greatly impact the whole state. I'll need to gain opponents and stop it once and for all." Hiccup really didn't know how to respond. He really didn't know how to be in charge of the town. Would he have to answer phone calls or pick up forms? He really didn't know.

"I'll try not to set anything on fire this time," Hiccup said sarcastically.

Hiccup's duties officially started on Wednesday. Thankfully, his father did not leave him with too many responsibilities. All he had to do was pick up forms from his father's office, respond to messages on the answering machine, and start planning decorations for the town's annual Labor Day race. Simple, these things were not going to get in the way of his daily life, especially because he had another chemistry lab that week.

The day before the lab, Hiccup and Astrid discussed the pre-lab at the end of class. Hiccup agreed to do it again because he knew Astrid had cross country practice that evening. Since Gobber was getting prepped for the first meet of the season that weekend as well as doing some of Stoick's tasks, the two-limbed man was not in the computer shop much that week. That gave Hiccup a lot more time and flexibility, so he happily agreed to do the pre-lab. Well, and the fact that his lab partner was Astrid.

The actual lab went pretty well. The mechanics of things were much more similar to the second lab than they were to the first. The two partners divided the work and were able to finish the lab without any major data mistakes. Just as they were about to leave the lab and school for the day, Ms. Lyser announced that she had graded the lab reports from the first lab. Before Hiccup could move, Astrid had already jumped up and grabbed the paper. From the scowl on her face, Hiccup could judge that she was not happy. Not happy at all. She marched back to the lab table where Hiccup was finishing cleaning up and slammed the piece of paper down in front of him. "82," she huffed. "I do not get 82's on ANYTHING!" Hiccup's spit caught in the back of this throat.

"W-what did we do wrong?" he asked shyly.

"We? We? Did you really just say we? Last I checked, I did the ENTIRE lab report. And it was YOUR stupid mistakes that cost us eighteen fucking points."

Hiccup responded sarcastically, "I didn't realize I could wash beakers so badly to lose eighteen points!"

Astrid's bony fist struck Hiccup's arm as soon as that comment came out of his mouth, "that's for getting up a B." She twisted his arm the same way as she had done during their first lab, "and that's for everything else."

Hiccup rubbed his throbbing arm. He was so confused. One minute they are actually getting along, almost joking as they worked through the procedure. The next minute she turns into a violent boxer. He really did not understand. He also didn't get what exactly he had done wrong for the first lab. She had explicitly told him not to do the lab report as that would be 'getting in her way.' Somehow, he knew that she didn't want to accept that she was anything less than perfect so she blamed Hiccup. He probably would have done the same thing, just not so…well violent.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Astrid's week was stressful. She had the first meet of the season looming over her for its entire duration. It was her senior year. She had to start of the season with a bang and continue that momentum until she crossed the finish line at the state meet. Astrid really wanted to go undefeated during the season. She almost did last year, except she got beat out by her rival, Heather during the region meet and then the state meet. After her mistakes during Monday's workout, Astrid knew she needed to focus completely on running for the rest of the week. Their stupid lab on Wednesday made that very hard. At least she wouldn't have to worry about doing the report until after the race was over.

Much to Astrid's delight, Hiccup volunteered to do the pre-lab again. After the last lab, Astrid knew that Hiccup would do a good job on it again. Not having to do the pre-lab allotted her more time to devote to running and planning her racing strategy for the weekend. Because it was the first race of the year, it was hard to know who would be her biggest competitors. She assumed that all of the top girls from last year who had not yet graduated would have put in their summer miles accordingly to get ready to try and beat her. Taking an early lead was key. That meant that she would have to get out of the blocks as fast as possible and make her way towards the front before the entire field bottlenecked at the first turn. The first race of the year was one she had done many times. She knew the course by heart so she could identify all the spots that would possibly give her trouble.

Astrid arrived at chemistry class on Wednesday, not having her whole heart in it. Just as she had hoped, Hiccup had done the pre-lab with superior ability. He maintained that level of aptitude throughout the duration of the period. The blonde girl began to feel a lot more comfortable during this lab. She contributed what she could and even threw in a few humorous remarks. It was definitely not like her to do that, but it helped the lab go faster and make them both feel less apprehensive. As soon as Astrid finished everything for that experiment and Hiccup was just cleaning off the rest of the beakers, she was ready to sprint out the door for practice; however, Ms. Lyser's dominating voice stopped her in her tracks. She had the lab reports from the first lab graded. She became anxious whenever something was returned, hoping desperately that she had worked hard enough on it. Nevertheless, she jumped up to retrieve the stapled packet. Her face and heart sunk when she saw the large red numbers at the top: 82. She had put so much time and effort into it that she really thought it would receive a higher mark. This made her both furious and disappointed at the same time. This insatiable need to punch something arose in her fists. She decided it was Hiccup's fault in order to take some of the disappointment from her heart. If it wasn't for his lack of effort and mistakes, they surely would have gotten an A, she tried to convince herself. The girl angrily stomped over to where he was finishing whipping the lab bench and forcefully slammed the report in front of him as violently as she could. She lashed out at the boy and condoned his ineptitude, yet when her fist struck his bony arm and her hand twisted the arm into an un-natural looking manner, she still did not feel better. Somewhere deep down, Astrid knew that the grade was not the boy's fault, and she felt remorseful for trying to place the blame on him.

"So I'm having like this huge party at my house on Friday," Ruff squelched excitedly.

"Okay, but don't we have a meet Saturday," Astrid responded in a concerned manner.

"Yeah, but this one is going to be epic! And it won't go that late. Besides, varsity girls won't run until around ten anyways. That gives us plenty of time to sleep."

Astrid sighed, "okayyy, I guess I'll stop by for a little bit."

"Don't seem so excited, Ms. Worrier. There's going to be this awesome DJ that we found and giant Jenga and Tuff vowed to do something stupid again!"

Astrid chuckled at this, "I'll be there, I'll be there!"

Astrid arrived at the party a little later than she would have liked. This was because she had to stay later than normal at cross country practice easing the nerves of the freshmen about their first race. As team captain, that was her duty. And when she finally got come, she still had to shower, get dressed, and do her make-up quickly. Unfortunately, Astrid ran into her parents before she could successfully make it out the door. "Where are you going, sweetie?" her father asked. "You have your first race tomorrow, you should be getting your rest."

Astrid lied, "I'm going over to Ruff's house with a few other teammates for a pre-race meal and team bonding." Astrid was usually not one to lie to her parents, but she knew that they would not let her go if she confessed the truth about the party. And besides, some of it was true; many of her teammates were likely to be there and she would also eat a carb-rich meal there.

Ruff was drunk. Seriously, Ruff was drunk the night before their first meet of senior year. Astrid irately stomped over to her friend and teammate and punched her in the shoulder. "What they hell are you doing drinking?"

Ruff sheepishly smiled, "I'm not that drunk. I'll be fine for tomorrow."

"You better or else I'm going to beat that sorry ass of yours until you wish you had never been born." With that she walked away to get food from the kitchen.

Despite the fact that Astrid was furious at Ruff for getting drunk, she had to admit that the party was fun. She challenged several people to a game of giant Jenga and won. Also, she beat a whole group of boys at lawn darts. It may have helped that she was the only sober one there, but that didn't stop the girl from basking in her victory. Just like Ruff had hyped, the DJ was amazing. She danced a little with her friends and then disappeared inside to watch Tuff attempt to do gymnastics in the hallway. He kept falling over sideways as he tried to do a handstand or a cartwheel. People were cheering him on from all over, convincing the boy that he was an Olympian at heart.

Astrid was truly having a great time, until she looked at her watch, almost permanently attached to her twig-like wrist. It was past 1:00 am. She really needed to get to bed in order to get enough rest for her race tomorrow. She grabbed a few more pigs in a blanket in the kitchen, and sprinted out to her car.

As Astrid made the familiar drive to her house, she panicked that she would be too tired to do her best in her first race of senior year. "I should have left earlier," she kept telling herself. Out of nowhere, two bright white lights appeared right in front of her. They vehicle was headed right for her own car. Instinctively, Astrid swerved her car to the right to avoid hitting the oncoming vehicle. She managed to avoid metal on metal contact, but she heard a loud bang as she collided with the curb. Immediately, she knew something was wrong as she had a hard time getting the car off the curb, and the tires made a funny noise when she tried to drive away to home. Reluctantly, Astrid decided to get out to assess the damage. Sure enough, she had a flat tire. "Shit! Are you fucking kidding me! This is just fucking perfect," she cursed into the night sky. There was no one to be found and she definitely did not know how to change a flat tire. Quickly, the girl got out her phone to call someone to her rescue. She was about to call her father to come help when she realized what time it was and that she smelled heavily of beer from the partiers around her sloshing clumsily. The next people she thought of calling were her best friend and other teammates; however, Astrid knew that they were all extremely drunk or asleep and would be of no help whatsoever. She scrolled down her contact list on her phone, hoping to come across someone to help. Most of the people in her contact list were at the party, not exactly sober. There were also "friends" whom she hadn't talked to in years. Feeling completely stranded and helpless, tears began to stream down the soft, perfect cheeks of Astrid's face. All she wanted to do was go home and go to bed. This is definitely not what she needed! Finally, she realized that she kept scrolling back to one name in particular: Hiccup. He definitely was not at the party and she had spoken to him within the past year. Also, he had mentioned something in lab that he was usually up late working on some invention or another. Inquisitive as Hiccup was, she knew deep down that he would not be malicious about his questions. Her thumb hovered over his name from a moment before pressing "call."

"Ugh, hello?" a very sleepy voice answered on the third ring.

Astrid took a deep breath, "hey Hiccup. It's Astrid." Both ends were silent for a moment.

"Hey Astrid," the boy responded, still heavy with sleep. Astrid didn't know how to ask him for help. He was her only hope and was mortally afraid that he might say no. Astrid was usually not a stutterer, but she couldn't seem to find the words.

"H-hey, um, I was calling because I thought you might be able to help me with something." She paused again.

"At…1:30 am?" Hiccup asked.

"Y-yeah, I have a flat tire. I have no idea what to do." At this point, the tears started to flow a little bit faster.

"Where are you?" questioned the boy.

"Um," Astrid looked for any street signs that she may be near, "I'm near Raven Point and Eel Street."

"Okay, I'll be right there." With that, she hung up the phone and waited.

Hiccup got there faster than Astrid would have expected. He pulled up next to Astrid's lopsided car in his black sedan. Getting out, Astrid could see that he had on a tight fitting blue shirt, plaid pajama pants, and navy blue slippers. His hair was sticking up in all directions. Astrid had never been more relieved to see another human being in her life as she was at that moment. She quickly attempted to wipe away the tears from her smooth, pale cheeks before Hiccup could see. "Are you okay, Astrid?" Hiccup asked, looking genuinely concerned.

Astrid nodded slightly, "yeah, I am but I don't think my car is too okay." Astrid could perceive that the boy's eyes were full of empathy and understanding. She truly was touched that he had gotten out of bed just to come help her. Honestly, not many people would do that, especially someone whom she recently treated like crap. He actually cared about her.

"Let's have a look," Hiccup announced as he made way to the right front tire of the car. "It's definitely flat."

"No, shit Sherlock," Astrid remarked but instantly regretted it. Hiccup didn't seem to be bothered by her comment as he crouched, examining the damage. "Can you fix it?" she asked shyly.

Hiccup muttered, "I think so. The rim is slightly bent but I believe I can get I tire on it for the mean time. You still will need to bring it into the shop."

"Shit," Astrid grunted inaudibly. "My dad is going to kill me." The car was his old one and she vowed to take good care of it. And not to mention that she was out driving when she shouldn't be. If Hiccup managed to pull off this fix, she would definitely need to think of a good way to explain it to her parents.

Hiccup got to work, removing the spare tire, jack, and wrench from a hidden compartment in Astrid's trunk. She watched him work and admired the way his brow furrowed in absolute concentration. The way his smooth, skinny muscles moved under his skin made a shiver run down her spine. Was he always this attractive or was it the desperate need for help that clouded her perception? She was driven out of her mind by a nasally voice. "Do you mind handing me that strew driver by my side?" He was busy holding up the deflated tire from the rim so he couldn't quite reach it. Astrid silently placed the tool in his sweaty palm. "Thanks," he muttered. As Hiccup spun the tire around to position it on the car, he accidently lost hold of it. The tire rolled down towards where Astrid was standing and collided with her shin. She was lost in thought again so it took her a second to process what had happened.

"Hey!" she shouted in what she thought was a jovial manner. Unfortunately, it didn't quite come out as such.

"I'm so sorry!" the boy squealed as he went and retrieved the tire.

The two lab partners were silent until Astrid decided to break the stillness that enveloped the night, "so, where on Earth did you learn to change a tire?" Hiccup was quiet for a moment, almost as if he was trying to decipher whether or not the girl was talking to him.

"My father taught me when I was a boy. It was his one attempt to have father-son bonding time and do, you know, manly stuff together." Astrid chuckled at the way he said "manly stuff" and flexed his scrawny bicep. "Come on, I'm _way_ too muscular for my own good! My father didn't know what to do with all _this_!" he joked. Astrid doubled over in laughter. She loved the way he joked sarcastically, even at the expense of himself. She could see his crocked smile through the darkness that matched his witty personality.

"Hiccup?"

"Yup?"

"Thank you for doing this for me." She paused, "I know I haven't been the nicest to you, but I really appreciate what you are doing for me." His smile got even larger and he looked at Astrid with such sincerity.

"Hopefully that should get you home. If it falls off halfway through, don't blame me! Again, probably best to get it to the shop, but it should be good for now," he said. Astrid walked over to Hiccup and punched him in the shoulder.

"That's for hitting me with the tire." Hiccup looked really confused after what she had just said to him. He shook his head slightly. Before Hiccup could say anything else, Astrid grabbed him by the front of the shirt and kissed him squarely on the cheek. "And that's for everything else." A large, goofy grin spread across Hiccup's face. Astrid hurriedly got in her car and drove away.

Astrid's heart pounded and her chest felt fluttery for the entire ride home. When she quickly entered her house, she could still feel her lips tingling from contact with Hiccup's cheek. She had never felt this way before and she was so confused as to what exactly it was. As she carefully climbed into bed, she finally attributed the weird feeling in her chest as absolute gratitude. And not to mention that she absolutely loved his personality: funny, caring, and kind. She was so thankful that Hiccup had come to her rescue that night and most definitely saved her ass. Astrid knew how late it was and that it was vital for her to get some sleep, but she just couldn't seem to get her mind and body settled down enough to drift into sleep.

Astrid did not know what time she finally dozed off, but she woke up the next morning not really feeling rested at all. She tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes and splash cold water on her face, but neither seemed to work effectively. Walking down to breakfast, the smell of eggs and toast hit her nostrils. Sure enough, her mother had had a plate waiting for her at the table. "You ready for your meet today?" her mother asked sweetly as Astrid piled her fork. The runner girl nodded as she chewed vigorously.

"You're going to kick some serious butt out there today," her father said as he appeared in the kitchen, sporting all of his Berk High School gear.

Astrid groaned, "you seriously look like a walking spirit shop."

The man laughed, "I want to be prepared to be the biggest cheerleader as you cross the line and claim your victory! And you can never have too many endorsements!" Astrid shook her head again with a smile.

The runner girl stretched her skinny legs one last time before taking her position at the starting line. She jumped up in the air and few times and then bent all the way down to the ground to touch her toes. She had finally shaken the sleepy feeling that had plagued her all morning and felt ready to race. The moment before the race started was absolute silence except for the blood pounding in Astrid's head. As soon as the gun went off, Astrid's legs instinctively took off. She drove her muscles to the front of the pack, avoiding the hundreds of legs pounding around her. As she rounded the first bend, she slowed her pace down to a controlled tempo. "Don't go out too fast like my workout on Monday," she reminded herself.

The girl finished the first mile in good time. Gobber was there yelling out splits. "6:15," he belted. She was pleased with that, especially considering it was the first race of the season. She could still hear a few girls pounding behind her, so she decided to push the pace just slightly. By the time Astrid reached the second mile, she still felt pretty good. Of course there was the all too familiar ache in her legs and lungs, but she was able to push through it. "Just one more mile," she muttered through gritted teeth.

"Yew gotta perty good lead, Astrid," Gobber shouted excitedly. Just hearing that, Astrid immediately felt more relaxed. She concentrated on maintaining good running form for the remainder of the race. Coming down the finishing stretch, the girl poured every ounce of energy she could muster into making her legs move as fast as they possibly could. At this point they felt like jello and she prayed they would support her across the finish line. She came down the chute to a cheering crowd, and her legs almost gave out as she crossed the finish line. _19:12, not bad for the first race_ , she thought. The first place finisher didn't have much time to collect herself before she was engulfed in a massive hug.

"Can't. Breathe," she finally gasped into the bear hug. Gobber loosened his grip before showering her with praise.

"Well done, lad! Tha was faster than las year's firs race! I kin tell iz gonna be a great season!" Astrid smiled fully. It felt so good to have the first race of the season under her belt, and she finally felt like she could obtain all the goals she set for herself that season.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Hiccup heard something faintly from the bowels of his sleep. The noise grew and he realized he was no longer dreaming. Reaching over to his phone confused, he answered, still extremely groggy. He didn't recognize the number, but he figured it might be important if someone called at this hour. "Uh, hello?" he answered groggily.

The voice on the other end sounded like liquid gold, "hey Hiccup. It's Astrid." Surely he was still sound asleep and dreaming. Astrid calling him? Yeah right. Definitely a dream. He pinched himself to wake up; however, he had no avail. Nevertheless, Hiccup still was not convinced that he was not still asleep. The voice on the other end continued after the hiatus, "h-hey, um, I was calling because I thought you might be able to help me with something." Hiccup was taken back. Astrid was asking him for help?

Hiccup was so confused that he blurted the first thing that came to his mind, "At..1:30 am?" he said as he checked his alarm clock.

The girl's voice was shaky yet still sounded like velvet, "y-yeah, I have a flat tire. I have no idea what to do." Hiccup actually knew how to do this. He flung himself out of bed, waking up a sleeping Toothless.

"Where are you?" He was already down the stairs and grabbing his car keys. Astrid finally told him that she was near Raven Point and Eel Street. "Okay, I'll be right there," Hiccup promised.

Because the drive over to where Astrid was didn't take that long, Hiccup did not have much time to contemplate the current situation. He still had no idea why she chose to call him of all people. Didn't she have a best friend, teammates, and loads of other friends? Not that Hiccup was complaining at all, he just didn't understand. When Hiccup arrived, he saw a helpless girl sitting on the side of the road, not the untouchable, mighty Astrid Hofferson. At this moment, he felt they were finally on equal ground. Hiccup got out of the car as quickly as he could without tripping. That challenge was normally present but his current sleep-filled mind made it even more so. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the girl whip her cheeks as if she had been crying. He walked over to the beautiful girl and instantly became more concerned about her than the car that was sitting lop-sided on the side of the road. Hiccup desperately wanted all the worry in Astrid's face to vaporize. "Are you okay?" he asked softly. He saw as the girl nodded slightly and admitted that she was okay, but she wasn't so sure about her car. He let the slightest smile creep across his lips at those words. Hiccup began to feel slightly awkward just standing next to Astrid so he decided to get to work on the car, "let's have a look." He bent his head down and examined the lump of shredded rubber. "It's definitely flat," he blurted.

"No, shit Sherlock," Astrid remarked. Hiccup really liked this sarcastic Astrid. He didn't know if it was a result of the stressful situation or if she was actually that way. Either way, he enjoyed seeing that side of her. "Can you fix it?" he heard the girl ask in a magic tone. Hiccup believed he could. The rim was slightly bent and scraped up, but he still believed he could get the old tire off and the spare back in its place. It would definitely take some work.

"I think so," he explained, "the rim is slightly bent but I believe I can get the tire on it for the mean time. You still will need to bring it into the shop."

With that, Hiccup got to work. His father had shown him how to do this when he was younger, so he knew exactly where to start. He opened up Astrid's trunk and found the lever to access the spare and jack. He removed everything he needed and set the tools on the ground. He really didn't want to mess this up. As he went to pry the deflated rubber from the rim, Hiccup realized that he needed more leverage. Not wanting to let go of the part he had already freed, he decided to ask Astrid to hand him the screw driver on the ground that was just slightly out of his reach. The beautiful girl silently placed it in his sweaty, outstretched palm. Finally, he got the old tire off. As Hiccup retrieved the spare and spun it around towards him, he accidently lost hold of it for a moment. The tire rolled down towards Astrid, and lightly collided with her shin. "Hey!" she shouted, in what seemed to be an annoyed manner. Hiccup's heart lurched as he felt terrible for his mistake. His stupid clumsiness was getting him in trouble once again!

"I'm so sorry!" he squealed as he raced over to retrieve the fallen tire. Just when he thought he was actually getting this goddess to like him, he goes and hits her with a tire. Hiccup could never do anything right!

Hiccup finished securing the spare tire to Astrid's car in dead silence. He interpreted the silence of the night as annoyance. Suddenly, a golden voice pierced through the stillness, "so, where on Earth did you learn to change a tire?" The voice didn't sound annoyed at all. It was light and purely inquisitive. Hiccup stayed quiet from a moment, still slightly taken back by the fact that Astrid Hofferson was talking to him.

"My father taught me when I was a boy," he clarified, "it was his one attempt to have father-son bonding time and do, you know, manly stuff together." Hiccup flexed his weak, skinny bicep as he said the words "manly-stuff." At this, the beautiful girl beside him chuckled. "Come on, I'm _way_ too muscular for my own good! My father didn't know what to do with all of _this_!" he joked playfully. Hiccup's sarcastic humor caused Astrid to double over in laughter. Hiccup's heart filled with joy at the fact the he was actually able to make Astrid Hofferson laugh. He loved the sound of that laugh. It was like sugar and clouds and everything wonderful in life. Hiccup couldn't help the large, goofy grin that spread across his face.

As Hiccup lowered the car to ground level, Astrid walked up close to him. He could almost feel her warm presence radiate on his skin. "Hiccup?" she asked sweetly.

"Yup?"

"Thank you for doing this for me." She paused, "I know I haven't been the nicest to you, but I really appreciate what you are doing for me." Hiccup's heart melted and he could feel his smile get even larger. Those were probably the nicest words anyone had ever said to him. And they were coming from Astrid Hofferson.

He didn't exactly know how to respond, so he blurted, "hopefully that should get you home. If it falls off halfway through, don't blame me! Again, probably best to get it to the shop, but it should be good for now."

The girl walked even closer to Hiccup and punched him square in the shoulder saying, "that's for hitting me with the tire." Hiccup was so confused. After what she just said to him, he couldn't fathom why he deserved her violence. Before he could say anything, Astrid grabbed him by the front of the shirt and kissed his cheek. "And that's for everything else." Hiccup felt his large, crooked grin come back. His cheek felt electrified from the contact with her lips, and a warm, amazing feeling settled deep in his chest. As he glanced at Astrid getting into her car and driving away, he couldn't believe what had just happened. Astrid Hofferson had just kissed Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III.

When Hiccup climbed back into his black sedan, he couldn't help the cheer of joy that escaped from his lips. He was ecstatic. Never in his life had he been this excited. It was only his cheek that she kissed, but to Hiccup, it felt like she touched his heart. Hiccup knew that he probably wouldn't be getting back to sleep that night. The feelings in his chest and the thoughts in his mind were too much for him to get any rest. Instead of going back home to a boring, black house, Hiccup decided to drive to the computer shop. At least he thought he could be productive amidst this feeling of euphoria.

Gobber trusted Hiccup enough to give him a copy of the key to the computer shop. Even though Hiccup was notorious for doing things behind Stoick and Gobber's back, they knew that he never intended to do harm. Well, even though most times Hiccup stepped outside, disaster stricked. As Hiccup flipped on the lights to the shop, he was greeted by a half-eaten ham sandwich and a large box of chicken bones. "That's disgusting. I guess Gobber was here earlier," the boy remarked. He hesitantly moved the food remnants out of the work space and sat down. As Hiccup worked on a mindless task, his thoughts were occupied with the events of the night. Every time he thought of Astrid's kiss upon his cheek, he could feel the spot where her lips touched him tingle and his heart fluttered amorously.

The next thing Hiccup knew, he opened his eyes to the warm sunlight streaming into the computer room. When Hiccup lifted his head from the workspace, a computer chip clung onto his forehead. His neck was aching from the odd position in which he had fallen asleep. A little dazed, he got up and checked the time- 7:00 am. At least Gobber wouldn't be there today to catch him. Honestly, Hiccup didn't actually recall falling asleep at any point during the night. One moment he was working away on a chip and the next it was seven the following morning.

Hiccup had had the best dream last night; Astrid kissed him on the cheek after she had called him in the middle of the night to change her flat tire. It took Hiccup until he was halfway home before he realized that those events were not a dream, but in fact they had actually happened to him. That realization made Hiccup's heart melt all over again.

 _Ring, ring, ring_. Hiccup picked up his home phone reluctantly. "Hello?"

"Did you pick up all my paperwork and check my voicemails for the week?"

"Nice to talk to you too dad. I'm doing great, thanks for asking," Hiccup answered sarcastically.

"Do you ever listen to a word that I say?"

"Yeah, yeah, I did that on Thursday."

"Anddd? Anything important."

"Oh you know, Meathead County waged war on Berk County. No big deal though. Me and Toothless have it covered with all of our brute strength." His father did not find Hiccup's little joke very funny.

"And I trust you have started with the decorations for the annual Labor Day race?"

"Oh yup, almost done." With that, the other side of the line was quiet. "He's a man of many words," Hiccup laughed to Toothless who was sitting beside him.

"I have an idea!" Hiccup sat up suddenly and looked at Toothless. "How would you like to go down to the park? Lots of birds to chase, piles of dirt to roll in, and many miles to walk!" Toothless meowed in agreement. Hiccup retrieved Toothless' harness and leash and his own car keys. The park wasn't too far away, but to go there Hiccup and Toothless would have to cross several roads. It made things easier just to drive. Besides, they could do lots of walking when they go there.

The park was pretty crowed as it was a beautiful day. The late-morning sun glistened against a bright blue sky. A few clouds wandered slowly across the heavens, dotting the background with fluffy, white polka-dots. Birds darted from one treetop to another as they called out to each other. For late August, the temperature was nice- slightly warm but not blistering. Toothless and Hiccup walked casually across the lush, green lawn near the entrance of the park. They received a few curious glances from passersby for having a cat on a leash, but by now, many of the locals were familiar with Toothless and Hiccup being around. "Morning, Hiccup!"

"Morning, Phlegma."

"Morning, Toothless!"

"Morning, Mr. Hoark," Hiccup answered for Toothless. It was nice to see familiar faces around. Granted, Berk County wasn't very big so it wasn't uncommon to bump into acquaintances.

Suddenly, Toothless's attention turned from Phlegma and Mr. Hoark to a chipmunk that darted across the lawn. The cat tried to take off, but only succeeding in yanking Hiccup's arm from the socket. "Ow! Watch it, bud!" Hiccup moaning, rubbing his injured shoulder. Toothless looked back apologetically, although, Hiccup could still see in his eyes that he really wanted to go after that chipmunk. "I know, I know! You want to get that chipper, but you have to stay with me!" After the town had found out about Hiccup and Toothless, they had changed the sign at the park from "Dogs must remain on a leash at all times" to " _Animals_ must remain on a leash at all times." Not that Hiccup was a rule-follower at all, but he really didn't want Toothless getting into any trouble. He had a bad paw that would most likely get him into trouble if he went too far away from Hiccup.

Hiccup and Toothless spent the remainder of the morning exploring the wooded trails in the back of the park. They seemed to go on forever. The trails didn't exactly belong to the park, and the terrain was treacherous in many places. Hiccup and Toothless enjoyed mapping out the trains and giving them names. "Looks like we found another one, bud! So, what should we name it?" Toothless took this exact moment to lick at his left, front armpit. "Itchy armpit it is then!" Hiccup laughed. He got out his phone and drew a rough sketch of the trails. He and Toothless had been mapping the various trails that skirted throughout the woods for years now. They had a whole electronic document dedicated to the project and each trail had its own unique name. With each new trail they discovered, the duo attempted to make it into a trail accessible to other hikers. They both found it amazing how no one ever bothered to wander off the worn paths and into unmarked territory. Hiccup supposed that that was another aspect that made him different- his morbid curiosity. He dared to go where no one had gone before.

Monday morning, Hiccup couldn't wait to tell Fishlegs about his weekend. By now, Fishlegs and Ruff were officially a couple. Hiccup was tired of hearing about his best friend's successes with the ladies, so he was glad that he finally got his chance in the spotlight. "Nuh uh!" Fishlegs replied in disbelief to Hiccup's recount of Friday night's events. They were careful to keep their voices low in fear that Astrid would her them talking about her. "Like the goddess of the school actually kissed you. Are you sure that wasn't a dream?"

"I didn't believe it either, and honestly, I did think it was a dream. But I promise you, it actually happened. I mean it's not like we are dating now or anything, but it was just nice that she actually noticed me for a change. And besides, that definitely beats a punch in the arm!"

"Good for you, bro!" Hiccup had never heard Fishlegs use the term "bro" before. He supposed that he must have picked it up from hanging out with Ruff and her posy.

In chemistry later that day, Hiccup tried his best not to make eye contact with Astrid. He didn't want things to be awkward between them. Of course, they had contact with each other during the weekend to work on the lab report; however, that was purely academic and Hiccup didn't want her to think that he had expectations from her after their encounter. Hiccup kept taking glances over at the girl to see what she was doing. He secretly wondered if she still thought he was alright after changing her flat tire. Would they stay on good terms or would she go back to hating his guts? Everything had gone okay during their work on the lab report, but he really didn't think a few text messages were a good indicator of anything.

Just as the bell rang and the students rushed to pack up their things and head out of the hell-hole they called Berk High School, Astrid walked over to Hiccup, still cramming things in his backpack. He was a little startled at first to see her standing over him, clutching her chemistry book to her chest. "Hiccup?"

"Um hmm."

"I um just wanted to um thank you again for everything you did for me over the weekend."

"It was no problem, Astrid. Really." The beautiful girl stuck out her hand in Hiccup's direction.

"Friends?" Hiccup wasn't sure what to do at first.

Finally, he grasp the hand lightly as if he might break her and agreed, "friends."

As Hiccup exited the chemistry classroom, he couldn't help but smile again. He was officially friends with Astrid Hofferson now, something he thought would never happen. Of course, Hiccup wanted to be much more than friends, but he knew that would never happen. He would have to be content with being friends now…and well for the rest of eternity.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"Congrats, Astrid!"

"Great race, Astrid!"

"You were like lightening out there!" The hallways of Berk High School were filled with congratulatory commendations as Astrid walked about to her classes. She smiled self-assuredly and gave a slight nod to each compliment. Astrid loved being in school after she had won a race over the weekend. She normally got a lot of positive attention from her peers, but this was bonus. She loved the feeling of being important, and being recognized for being at the top of her sport.

As Astrid visited her locker to retrieve her books for the day, she saw Scott standing haphazardly against her locker. The girl tried to shove her way past him, but his large body would not budge. She really didn't want him to ruin her good mood that had endured with her since she crossed the finish line on Saturday, so she decided to be civil to him. "So I saw you had a good time at Ruff and Tuff's party Friday night."

"Did I ever!" the muscular boy exclaimed. "Well…what I can remember from it." Despite the fact that Astrid knew that Scott really only cared about himself, she still half expected him to make a comment about her race from that weekend. After all, pretty much everyone else at Berk High School had heard how she did and sent their congratulatory statements her way. Not that she really cared either way. When made no mention about the race and instead rambled on and on about the party and his miserable headache the next day, Astrid decided to try again to get into locker.

"So, do you mind if I could get my books out from my locker."

"No one's stoppin' you, babe."

"Um, well, actually your arm kinda is." Scott didn't even hear her passive aggressive comment as he continued rambling about the party.

"…and so then, Tuff called. He had stuck his face in a bowl of jalapeños! His eyes were still swollen the next morning! Bahahaha!" Astrid's lips tightened into an annoyed frown. Seriously she really didn't care about the stupid party- she just wanted to get to her damn books!

Just as the warning bell rang and Scott was still blabbing, Hiccup clumsily rushed down the hallway and to his locker, only a few down from Astrid's. Thankfully for the girl, Scott turned his attention away from Astrid's locker and fixated on the nerd rushing to grab his books. The large boy didn't do anything, he just glared at the smaller one menacingly. This gave Astrid the opportunity to slip by him and get what she needed for class. Without exchanging any further communication with either of the two boys by the locker, she raced off to her history class. As she arrived in class just moments before the late bell rang, Astrid suddenly found herself thinking what Hiccup would have to say about her race that weekend. It was stupid to care, but she just wondered what his reaction would be. She should have at least said hi to him at the lockers, especially after what she did for him over the weekend. Honestly, she didn't know why she didn't say hi. She wasn't mean- she just supposed she got a little flustered by the mere presence of Scott.

Astrid spent the majority of chemistry class trying to decide how to approach Hiccup and let him know again how much she appreciated his help on Friday. She turned around a few times, careful not to make eye contact with him. She didn't want him getting the wrong idea, like she still needed him or something; she was a strong girl who could take care of herself… just not her car. Finally when the bell rang, Astrid's legs unconsciously walked over to where Hiccup was still packing up his things. She stood there awkwardly for a moment, hovering with book to the chest, before she opened her mouth to address him. "Hiccup?" she said tentatively.

"Um hmm." She swayed a little, uncomfortably.

"I um just wanted to um thank you again for everything you did for me over the weekend."

"It was no problem, Astrid. Really." Then, her mind did another unconscious move- she stuck her hand out in Hiccup's direction.

"Friends?" Astrid really didn't know what had come across her. Hand-shaking was definitely not something she did. And asking someone to be friends? Hell no. That was what five year olds do! Hiccup was silent for a moment.

Finally, he took her hand lightly, "friends." The contact felt strange. Long after their hands parted ways, she could feel the weight of his in hers. She instinctively touched her right palm with her left as if the boy left behind a trace of slime.

"Alright, alright, listen up e'ryone. I know you lads had a great weekend at yer first meet of the season." Gobber was interrupted by a roar of cheers from the runners. He let the noise die down to a whisper before he started again. "Jus cuz yew had sussess in yer firs' meet dunt mean yew get to stack off now. We still have a lot of work to do. Starting with today's workout." A series of groans rang from the crowd. "I know, I know but today's workout int that bad." Gobber always said that. It didn't matter if it was a fartlek, a tempo, or a marathon. Astrid still felt great from her race over the weekend so she was ready for whatever Gobber threw at her. She stretched her legs slightly as Gobber went over instructions for the day's workout _. Ossie fartlek, that shouldn't be too bad at all!_ Astrid thought happily to herself.

At the conclusion of Gobber's instructions, Astrid took off for her warm-up, leading a group of girls. After about a quarter mile in, Ruff caught up to Astrid. As soon as the two girls took the lead together and started talking, they began to pull away from the remainder of the team. Ruff did most of the talking. She was rambling on and on about her new boyfriend, Fishlegs. Astrid still thought it was quite strange that she chose him to date. She was a popular and pretty girl and had her fair share of guys to choose from; however, Astrid was pleased to hear that she appeared very happy. Ruff went on and on about the chivalrous way he treated her. They had very in depth conversations which Astrid was pretty envious of. And Astrid had to admit that Fishlegs would be somewhat attractive if he wasn't so overweight.

Lab went really well on Wednesday. Hiccup and Astrid spent the majority of the time laughing and shooting sarcastic comments at each other. At one point, Hiccup got Astrid laughing so hard at one of his snarky remarks that Ms. Lyser shot the pair a warning glare and threatened to take off ten points if they continued to goof off. Also, Ms. Lyser had the second lab graded and ready to hand back. Both Astrid and Hiccup were nervous to see their grade after the 82 on the first one. Nervously, they turned the paper over and took a peek at the red number on top. 95! With Ms. Lyser being as tough of grader as she is, they were both thrilled. "Great teamwork, Hiccup!" Astrid shouted, with giving her partner a congratulatory slap on the back.

Hiccup beamed, "thanks! You too! I think you did most of the hard work on it!" Astrid loved the way that he directed her compliment back at him. It wasn't the fact that she wanted praise of her work, but it was nice to not be around someone arrogant for once.

"We both did the hard work," she responded sweetly.

Just before the lab ended, Astrid didn't know what compelled her to say what she did, but she opened her mouth and asked Hiccup if they wanted to get together to work on the next lab report. Astrid found she really loved his sarcastic sense of humor and his quirky niceness. Besides, she reasoned, it would be easier than communicating over text and having to make loads of assumptions. She figured with two minds working together at the same time, they would be done twice as fast. Hiccup seemed a little confused with her suggestion. "You mean like meet somewhere and work together?"

Astrid laughed, "yes, that's exactly what working together means!"

Hiccup smiled, "I just was making sure since we had been dividing and conquering on the previous ones." He lifted up the graded lab, "obviously that worked out pretty well on this one!" Astrid was a little offended. Did he not want to work with her? Was he trying to avoid meeting up somewhere together?

Her voice became more timid, "I mean if you don't want to get together and prefer to just divide and conquer, that's fine…I guess."

"No, no! Meeting up would be great. It would be more efficient and we would get a lot done. We can meet up. Somewhere… to work…"

Astrid cut him off, "okay! Friday night okay?"

"Yup, not like I go out on Fridays or am actually social." She chuckled slightly.

"Where do you want to go?"

"Well my dad's away so I have the whole house to myself… or I mean we could go to Starbucks or Panera or somewhere else."

"Your house works. It will be much quieter there so we can concentrate better and not get easily distracted."

"Okay, my house Friday night! Where we work together on the lab report."

"See you then," she said with a slight grin.

Friday was the first football game of the season. The whole school was riled, especially Scott. He kept approaching Astrid and inviting her to a "special place" to watch the game. Again, the girl politely refused; however, that didn't stop the quarterback from excitedly screeching trash talk at her. "We're gonna crush them Meatheads! They've got nothing on us! No one can beat these guns!" he said over and over again. Astrid liked football, but she was sick of him going on and on about it, trying desperately to impress her.

It was tradition for the football team to throw huge parties after every away game, no matter what the final score was. This upcoming Friday was no exception. After the events of the previous Friday night, Astrid really didn't want to go to this party. She was glad that the lab report gave her a reasonable out. Besides, everyone would be so drunk that they wouldn't even notice she wasn't there. And she had another race Saturday morning that she would need to be rested for. After her stellar performance in the season opening meet, people were going to expect even more from the young athlete.

Friday after practice, Astrid drove home and showered. She stood in front of her closet, towel still wrapped around her skinny frame, trying to decide what to wear to Hiccup's house to work on the project. Should she look somewhat cute, or were sweatpants and a T-shirt the way to go? She really didn't know why she was making such a big deal over her outfit choice. After all, it was just her lab partner, her friend, and all they were going to do was work on some stupid lab report in the privacy of Hiccup's home. After much debate, she finally decided on jeans and a T-shirt. You can never go wrong with blue jeans.

Astrid checked the address that Hiccup had given her several times when she pulled up to his house. It was nothing like she had imagined or expected. The large stone structure looked like the size of a small hotel. The entrance way had a grandiose manner that reminded Astrid of European temples. The front lawn was a brilliant, emerald green that glistened like a cat's eyes. Leading up to that perfectly kempt lawn was a long, concrete driveway. She was still in awe as she walked up the granite steps to the front door. Hesitantly, she placed her finger on the doorbell and pushed. Moments later, the door swung open to reveal a skinny boy and an infinitely more lavish foyer. "Hey," she whispered softly.

"Hey," he replied. They stood their awkwardly in the doorway before Hiccup finally invited her in. It seemed as if he had never invited another person to step foot in his house. All of his movements were uncomfortable and forced. He appeared to not know what to do with his body. They lingered in the entryway before Hiccup finally took a seat at the edge of his brown, leather, wrap-around couch that took up the majority of the living room. Astrid followed his cue and did the same. She pretended to sift through her book bag, looking for her lab notebook, even though she knew exactly where she had placed it. After she could no longer acceptably stall, she took it out and placed in gingerly on her lap. While she flipped to the page, Hiccup suddenly jerked up. "I forgot my lab book upstairs. I'll be right back." Astrid took the moments of his absence to look around the extravagant house. The fireplace stood directly in front of the large, leather couch, and a ginormous flat-screen television was placed right above the marble mantle that hung over the pile of logs. Along the entire side of the house were a series of magnificent windows and allowed the sun to stream in like particles of gold dust. What Astrid found most striking was a large picture of a red-headed man with a great bead and a suit that hung next to the fireplace. Astrid assumed that this large, well-dressed man was most likely Hiccup's father. She was amazed that they bore no physical resemblance whatsoever. _He must really take after his mother_ , the girl found herself thinking.

As Astrid continued to look around, Hiccup shuffled down the stairs and back to the couch, notebook and computer in hand. No sooner did Hiccup sit, then he bounced back up again. "Do you want anything to eat or drink? We have lots of food cuz my father gets a _little_ hungry sometimes." Like always, Astrid was really hungry after cross country practice. There was never a time when the runner wasn't hungry, but she really didn't want to look like some disgusting pig in front of her lab partner.

"No thanks, Hiccup. I'm good." She quickly added, "but thanks for asking."

"Are you sure? I was going to grab a quick bite really fast because I haven't eaten since breakfast."

"What are you having?"

"Probably some left-over pizza."

Astrid laughed, "that actually sounds pretty good! I guess I have a piece."

"I hope anchovies and liver is okay!" Hiccup joked. It took Astrid just a moment to realize that this was another one of Hiccup's sarcastic comments.

"Make sure my piece has extra!"

Once they lab partners had gotten their pizza and water, they opened their books and laptops to begin work. As they plugged away at their data, Astrid began to feel more and more comfortable in the Haddock household; she eventually took off her shoes and propped her feet up on the fancy leather couch. She and Hiccup took turns making fun of each other and laughing at each other as they goofed off like five year olds, just like when they were in actual lab. They really weren't getting a whole lot of work done so it was going to take a long time. Neither of them minded. Surprisingly, being together made the lab report seem like it wasn't actually work at all.

At some point during the evening, Astrid realized that she had feelings for Hiccup. She had had them subconsciously, but this was the first time that she actually acknowledged them and didn't attempt to squelch them. It was weird that they sprung on this quick since they had only started being friends. She didn't know whether it was his sarcastic sense of humor or his gentle compliments or his general aura that made Astrid come to this realization. All she knew was that she had never met someone quite like Hiccup before. He was everything she wanted in a guy: kind, caring, funny, smart, empathetic, etc. She felt so at ease when she was around him. Finally she could be herself and could drop that façade she put on for the rest of the school that she was the best at everything. She could sense that he was not one to comment if she did or said something outside the social norm either. Most of all, she knew that he wouldn't care that she wasn't the perfect girl she had pretended to be for so many years. This realization made Astrid do something that she would normally never do- she admitted how confused she was in chemistry. She confessed that every day in class she felt like she barely had her head above water- each problem threatened to drown her. And how she had to work super hard just to make an average grade on a test. Hiccup looked at her with eyes of understanding throughout her whole rant. "Hard work will get you very far in life. And besides, this is notoriously the hardest class in Berk High School. There's absolutely no shame in not understanding something," Hiccup reassured.

At one point, Hiccup leaned in to look at the graph of data that she had made on her computer. She could feel the warmth of his body radiating onto hers. She looked up slightly towards his face, eyes fixating on his left cheek where she had kissed him only a week before. She remembered the tingly feeling that came about in her lips from the momentary contact of his skin; this made her chest bubble with a strange feeling that made her long for contact with Hiccup again. His lips were so close to his. All she had to do was lean forward just a smidge. Kissing just his cheek gave Astrid such a jolt of electricity that she couldn't even imagine what kissing his lips would be like.

Astrid suddenly stopped herself from acting upon her desires. How would he react to her suddenly kissing her? He would probably be freaked out and think she was out of her mind. Like most teenage girls, Astrid found herself wondering if he had similar feelings towards her. The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced otherwise. Why would he like her? She remembered how hesitant he was to shake her hand at the friendship offering in chemistry. If it took thought and consideration to just be friends, there would be no way in hell that he would want _more_ than that. And not to mention the fact that she was rude to him for years. She watched Hiccup get bullied for years, and only acted like the innocent bystander. So, in conclusion, kissing him was definitely out of the question. Oh well, at least as friends she would get to hang around him and be immersed in his exuberant personality. She really didn't want to ruin that.

Hiccup said something. _Crap, I totally didn't hear what he just said_ , Astrid panicked to herself. "What?" she asked dazedly.

"Sorry, I was just asking if you took the natural log of the data on the y-axis."

"Ah crap, I completely forgot to do that! Stupid absorbance!"

"What's the activation energy to get you to do that?" Hiccup laughed.

"Dessert." Astrid absolutely loved his nerdy jokes and how he had taken the purpose of the lab report and turned it into humor.

"Oo, that's a high activation energy! Though I think our grade is worth that! What would you like to supply your chemical reaction?" Astrid was rolling laughing by now. She accidently let out a little snort which sent Hiccup into stitches. Neither of them could move for a while because they were laughing so hard. Finally, Hiccup collected himself and got up to go to the kitchen. "I'll be back!" he said in a shrewd tone.

As Astrid properly plotted the absorbance as the natural log of At-A∞, in order to calculate the activation energy of certain unknown compound to determine its thermal stability, Hiccup returned with two hot fudge sundaes. How did he know that she loved hot fudge sundaes? Astrid practically inhaled the delicious dessert the moment Hiccup set it down in front of her. Licking the last few drops of ice cream off her spoon, she glanced over at Hiccup. His bowl was still half-full and she couldn't help but smile as a drop of fudge escaped from the corner of his mouth. Astrid tried not to laugh as she looked at him. "What?" he asked grinning widely. Astrid let out a little chuckle.

"You have a little something there," she said as she gestured to her own mouth. In her own mind, she imagined him saying " _I do? Why don't you get that for me_ ," seductively. Instead, the boy in front of her laughed self-consciously and wiped the bit of chocolate himself. However, what he did next both surprised her and excited her.

"I see you have finished yours already…well more like inhaled. You can have some of mine if you want?" It was so sweet of him as she could tell he was enjoying the sundae as well. Astrid didn't know whether to accept of decline. She really did love hot fudge sundaes, but she also didn't want to seem rude or barbaric.

"It's okay, I don't want to take it from you."

"No, no, it's fine. I can go get more later if I want," he entreated as he pushed the half eaten bowl over to Astrid. At this Astrid didn't decline. She took her own spoon and delved in.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"Friends." That word echoed in Hiccup's mind the entire way home. He and Astrid Hofferson were friends. He still couldn't believe his luck: first she called him in the middle of the night, then she kissed him on the cheek, and now they were friends! Hiccup's whole body felt warm and fuzzy. He was pretty sure that it had felt that way since their encounter on Friday; however, it was much more intense now that he was thinking of Astrid.

Hiccup was glad that he had a little time before he had to go to the computer shop. Gobber wouldn't be done coaching cross country practice until around six, so that gave Hiccup some time for a nap. Even though it was only Monday, Hiccup already felt pretty tired. He supposed that it was from all the emotional excitement that he had been through over the past few days. Never in Hiccup's life had he experienced something quite like this; therefore, it definitely took a toll on him.

"What's got you so happy today, lad?" Gobber asked as Hiccup whistled away while working on a computer program. It took Hiccup a minute to realize that Gobber was talking to him.

"What? Huh?"

"I axed whas got you so happy. Yer whistlin' like a bird o'er there." Hiccup was suddenly embarrassed that he got caught making noise. Honestly, he was so absorbed in his own mind that he didn't really mean to whistle out loud. He could feel his face glowing a deep shade of crimson.

"Just had a good weekend."

"Aye! Iz about that girl? Int it?"

"Oh Astrid…ugh, um, what makes you think that?" he stuttered.

"Jus like yer father," Gobber mumbled so he was inaudible to Hiccup. "Lemme guess, she talked to you," the large man said sarcastically. Hiccup didn't know if he wanted to let Gobber in on the events of the weekend, but he eventually decided that they were too magnificent not to share.

Hiccup was so excited to go to chemistry lab on Wednesday. This would be the first lab that he and Astrid were officially friends. That little word made Hiccup nervous as well due to the fact that he really didn't want to mess it up and go back to Astrid hating his guts. Hiccup was the first one to arrive at the lab table that afternoon. He could see that Astrid was glancing over the pre-lab one last time before heading over. The boy was careful not to be the first one to communicate with his partner; he waited until she made the first more. That way he would be sure that she did not regret the events of the weekend and that she was not completely weirded out by Hiccup's presence. "Hey!" a voice greeted Hiccup cheerfully. He looked up from the lab table, swooping his messy, brown hair away from his face. His lab partner looked just as beautiful as ever in her goggle and apron. Hiccup thought that this lab attire made her look even more intelligent than she already was. He flashed the goddess his crooked smile and quickly glanced back down at his lab notebook. He didn't want to get too caught up in her perfect sapphire eyes that glistened like a Caribbean sea. That would definitely creep her out.

"Ready to get this party started?" the beautiful blonde girl chirped.

"You know me and parties…I was born for them!" Hiccup got up from the lab table to retrieve the various chemicals, supplies, and instruments they would need for the lab. Meanwhile, Astrid stayed behind to set up her data table in her lab notebook. She looked up for just a second to see Hiccup juggling more chemicals that he definitely should have.

"Slacker! I think you definitely could have carried more! One right drop and all the chemicals will be mixed together for us with minimal effort!" she teased Hiccup.

"Hey, if I drop them and some massive explosion happens, I blame you for making the clumsiest person on the face of the Earth transport chemicals!"

"But then the school would be destroyed and we wouldn't have to do another experiment!"

"True! But then you wouldn't get to see that smiling face!" he said as he gestured over to their teacher who was busy yelling at a student for some reason or another. They both doubled over laughing.

The witty, sarcastic comments kept coming to Hiccup like a computer spitting out data. He felt very accomplished when he got his lab partner to chuckle; however, at one point, his comment struck Astrid in just that right way that she started rolling laughing. Hiccup could soon feel the menacing glare of their chemistry teacher upon him. They both saw their grade flash before their eyes when she walked over to them and threatened to take off ten points from their lab report grade if they didn't start acting like mature scientists. "Everyone has to have fun at some point or else you wind up becoming like a radioactive element- extremely unstable and losing positivity," Hiccup muttered dryly. Astrid tried her best to surpress her giggle at this nerdy statement.

Once again, Ms. Lyser's voice echoed through the classroom like a bullhorn, "I have your second lab report graded and ready to return." She paused deliberately, letting the last of the lab tables discontinue their conversations. "One lab partner from each pair may pick it up in the back of the room by the time class ends or else it will enjoy a trip to the paper shredder and you will enjoy a zero." Astrid was the one to make the trek to the back of the classroom and receive their fate. Hiccup noticed that she kept the paper folded over until she safely returned to the sanctity of the lab bench. Hiccup could feel his heart pounding in his head. More than anything he wanted to get a good grade on it- especially after the first lab. Both he and Astrid deserved it. With shaky hands, Astrid flipped the paper over, slowly revealing the red number circled at the top. 95! Yeah! Hiccup felt like throwing his hands in the air and shouting; thankfully he was able to control this impulse to prevent himself from looking like a complete idiot. Taking a glance over at Astrid, Hiccup could see that she was visibly relieved as a beautiful smile surfaced on her perfect heart-shaped face.

Astrid immediately caught Hiccup's gaze in her direction and presented her partner with a congratulatory slap on the back, "great teamwork, Hiccup!"

"Thanks! You too! I think you did most of the hard work on it!" Hiccup grinned sheepishly.

"We both did the hard work," Astrid replied with a tone as sweet as sugar.

As Hiccup was washing and drying a set of beakers at the end of lab, he felt the warm presence of his lab partner behind him. Before he had the chance to turn around and ask if she needed anything, the girl opened her mouth, "do you want to work together on the lab report sometime this weekend?" Hiccup was pretty sure that he misheard his lab partner. They had been doing just fine on the lab reports by communicating over text. Surely that's what she meant.

"You mean like meet somewhere and work together?" Astrid let out a little laugh and looked at Hiccup like he had suddenly sprouted a second head.

"Yes, that's exactly what working together means!" Hiccup couldn't help the slow smile that crept across his face. He was going to get to see Astrid Hofferson outside of school. Stupid hormones. It was just school related.

"I just was making sure since we had been dividing and conquering on the previous ones." He lifted up the graded lab that Ms. Lyser had just returned and pointed at the red mark at the top, "obviously that worked out pretty well on this one!"

Suddenly, Astrid's tone changed dramatically from her usual chipper to soft and timid, "I mean if you don't want to get together and prefer to just divide and conquer, that's fine…I guess." Wow, Hiccup didn't even realize what his previous comments insinuated. He was just utterly confused by her question- that was all. There was nothing he would like more than to work with Astrid outside of school.

"No, no! Meeting up would be great. It would be more efficient and we would get a lot done. We can meet up. Somewhere…to work…" Before he could continue to ramble on stupidly, Astrid thankfully cut him off.

"Okay! Friday night okay?"

"Yup, not like I go out on Fridays or am actually social." Hiccup heard a polite chuckle. Gods, why did he say something like that? Accentuating the fact that he was a loser with no life? And did he sound overzealous to get together outside of school? The velvet voice dragged Hiccup from the bowels of his self-berating mind.

"Where do you want to go?"

"Well, my dad's away so I have the whole house to myself…" Oh man, there he goes again, just letting those words slip out like toothpaste from the tube. Now she's going to think that I'm plotting to sleep with her or something! What a creeper thing to say! Quickly, Hiccup added, "or I mean we could go to Starbucks or Panera or somewhere else." Much to Hiccup's relief, Astrid didn't seem too disturbed by his remark as she promptly agreed to meet at Hiccup's house.

When Astrid turned to walk away from the lab table, she turned back towards Hiccup and gave him a sly grin, "see you then!" Hiccup's insides melted at her tender gesture. Could it be Friday now please?

At precisely 6:00 pm on Friday, Hiccup was snapped away from the mystical world of his current book by the sharp ringing of the doorbell. A bolt of nervousness ran though Hiccup like an electric current, making every one of his hairs stand on end. Automatically, Hiccup's legs carried him to the front door and he looked on as his hand fumbled with the dead-bolt. When the door finally swung open, Hiccup found himself face to face with the most beautiful girl he had ever seen or imagined. And this girl was at his house!

"Hey," the girl whispered softly. Hiccup had to quickly swallow the mass of saliva that had collected in the back of his throat.

"Hey." He was so dazed by the goddess on his front steps that he completely forgot that it was courtesy to actually invite her in. Consequently, the pair stood awkwardly in the doorway for a few moments. "Oh, hey, do you want to come in?" Hiccup suddenly remember.

"Naw, I'm good standing out here. I think this makes a great place to work on the report!" Astrid joked. Despite Astrid's reassuring sense of humor, Hiccup still did not know what to do with his body. It was as if he was suddenly transported into an extraterrestrial being with which he had never had contact with before. After several more uncomfortable moments, Hiccup scooted to the large, leather couch in the center of the living room and gingerly placed is butt on the edge. Astrid mimicked his actions and sat on the edge of a cushion a few feet over. Even with the modest space between them, Hiccup could smell the scent from Astrid's freshly washed hair. Was it lavender or some other flower? Either way, it was entrancing and the smell traveled from Hiccup's nose and circulated throughout his whole body before exhaling once again.

Hiccup became so enticed by Astrid's sweet smell that it took him several minutes to realize that he had left his lab notebook upstairs, along with his computer. He jerked up from the edge of the couch in a manner that he hoped looked more graceful than it felt. Looking right into the crystal blue eyes of his partner, he felt an instant surge of happiness that carried him up the stairs and back down once again.

No sooner did Hiccup return to the throne next to Astrid then he felt the familiar ping of hunger deep within his stomach. Naturally, he sprung back up to retrieve something from the kitchen, most likely leftovers. Thankfully, Hiccup remembered his manners and offered his lab partner to share the delicacy of whatever had been in the fridge for a few days. Politely, the girl declined. _Great_ , Hiccup thought, _I'm going to be scarfing down pizza and she's just going to be looking at me eating, wondering how I am still a talking fishbone!_ "Are you sure? I was going to have some left-over pizza."

With that, the runner's face lit up and she laughed, "that actually sounds pretty good! I guess I'll have a piece!"

"I hope anchovies and liver is okay!" Hiccup hoped that his comment wasn't too disgusting as he saw Astrid's grin fall slightly. Finally, she got that adorable smirk back.

"Make sure my piece has extra!"

After Hiccup finished his piece of pizza, his stomach started gurgling again. This time, however, it was not from hunger. He supposed he had eaten his food too fast and now his intestines were having their revenge. _Great, just great,_ Hiccup thought. _The girl I like is sitting mere feet from me and I have gas!_ _Why does my body absolutely hate me! I guess I may not physically take after Stoick, but my bowels do!_ Hiccup clenched his sphincter as tight as he could and opened his notebook and laptop. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Astrid had taken her shoes off and had her feet propped up on the leather couch. "I don't think the _sole_ purpose of the couch is to accommodate your feet! I knew something was _afoot_ when the room started to smell a little funny!" At Hiccup's use of puns, Astrid shot Hiccup a look that said _I'm not amused_ , all the while, trying to suppress a smile from creeping across her lips.

"Wow Hiccup! Those were _toe_ -tally lame! I really didn't get a _kick_ out of that at all!" the girl laughed as she kicked one of her feet in Hiccup's direction.

"Oh I see how it is! I gotta _hand_ it to you." Hiccup stuck his hand near Astrid's face and waved it wildly.

As Astrid was rolling laughing, she pointed to her knee and managed to speak between giggles. "This _knee_ ds to stop!"

" _Stomachs_ for getting out lab report done! Procrastinating this much is quite the _feet_!"

When Hiccup and Astrid finally ran out of body-part puns, they were actually able to get some real work done. Astrid was in charge of doing the graphs and Hiccup was in charge of analyzing data. Hiccup was really surprised that Astrid had confessed that she was a little confused by the lab. He knew that took a lot of guts for Astrid to reveal that she was less than perfect. Having had class with her for four years, Hiccup was used to her acting like she knew everything. This was a different side of Astrid, and it made Hiccup like her all that much more.

When Hiccup leaned in towards Astrid to look at the graph she was working on, he got an intense whiff of Astrid's wonderful shampoo. He was so close to her. If he was a man like his father, or even any other guy in the school, he would lean over and kiss her. But Hiccup was not that kind of guy and he was sure that Astrid would leave his house in an instant if he tried to do something like that. Although, Hiccup had a little hope when he saw out of the corner of his that Astrid was looking up at him. But he figured that a kiss on the cheek was all he was ever going to get from his beautiful lab partner.

"Ugh, did you remember to take the natural log of the data on the y-axis? It's looking a little bit funny." Astrid didn't respond or even look at Hiccup. Finally, she jerked her head up and looked in his direction.

"What?"

"Sorry, I was just asking if you took the natural log of the data on the y-axis."

"Ah crap, I completely forgot to do that! Stupid absorbance!" Astrid laughed at herself.

"What's the activation energy to get you to do that? The girl looked right into Hiccup's eyes.

"Dessert," she said in her most serious voice.

"Oo, that's a high activation energy! What would you like to supply your chemical reaction?" By now, Astrid was literally on the ground, rolling with laughter. She accidentally let out a little snot, quick covering her mouth with her hand. This cute little noise sent Hiccup over the edge and he began laughing so hard that his abs were burning. After many wonderful minutes of dying laughing, Hiccup finally got up to go to the kitchen. "I'll be back!" Hiccup announced in his most cunning tone, or what he hoped was.

What to have? Sweets usually never lasted in the Haddock household as Stoick had a massive sweet tooth. Occasionally, Gobber would bring over something that he baked; however, they were usually devoured moments after they arrived. Luckily Hiccup spotted a gallon of vanilla ice cream in the back of the freezer. Hot fudge sundaes! Perfect! Hiccup loved hot fudge sundaes and hoped Astrid would too. But really, who doesn't like hot fudge sundaes…well I guess lactose intolerant people. Please don't let Astrid be lactose intolerant!

Astrid was concentrating intently on the graph. Her brow was furrowed and she was drumming her slender fingers against the soft leather cushion. Her expression immediately changed the instant Hiccup placed the delicious dessert in front of her and a wide smile swept across her beautiful face. Just like Stoick would do, Astrid practically inhaled her bowl. The clink of metal against glass could be heard as she desperately tried to get the last few drops of sugary goodness. Astrid turned and looked at Hiccup once again, but this time a goofy smile sat upon her face. She was trying desperately to suppress a laugh as her face was contorting into unusual shapes. "What?"

"You have a little something there," the girl said as she pointed to the corner of her own mouth. Hiccup could feel his face turn slightly red. There he was, eating like a five year-old again; nevertheless, he wished his life was like those in the movies where the guy would have something on his face and the girl would seductively lean over and kiss him to get the food off. But Hiccup's life was no movie. Instead, he quickly wiped the drop of escaped fudge with the back of his hand.

Noticing that Astrid was now staring intently at Hiccup's bowl, he decided to offer her some of his. As good as it tasted, nothing would be better than making her happy. Just like Hiccup was, Astrid was way too polite when Hiccup offered up his dessert. But, sliding the bowl in her direction, she gratefully drove her spoon into the mushy mix.

"Hey Astrid, can I get your advice on something?"

"Sure! Anything!"

"Okay, so um my dad um put me in charge of decorations for Berk County's annual Labor Day race. And I have no idea what to do. I'm usually pretty good with the creative elements, but I'm struggling with this one."

"Hmmm, you mean like something different than previous years."

"Yeah, because no offence to my dad or anything, but that race is usually extremely boring and practically no one actually shows up. I just really need help in making the decorations at least somewhat exciting."

"Okay, umm, I'll try to think of something." The girl was silent for a few moments, obviously deep in thought as she looked up towards the ceiling. Finally, she practically jumped out of the couch. "I know! How about instead of a 5k race, you do an obstacle course type thingy but with events and other stuff! Make it something unique, something that people can't help but be interested in!"

"That's a great idea! I think that would definitely attract a lot more people! But unfortunately, I don't think my dad would go for that. He's all about tradition and this race has been going on for more years than hours spent on chemistry this year. All I'm in charge of are decorations, unfortunately."

"But wouldn't he want more participants to raise money for the county?"

"Probably."

"And I have some really good ideas for the decorations. When will your dad get home again?"

"Ugh, I think tomorrow night."

"Okay then, the lab report will definitely have to wait. This obstacle course is happening. We will get together what we will throw at people!" All lab materials were tossed aside as Hiccup and Astrid put their heads together to plan this new type of race.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

"Okay so let's come up with something that no one has ever seen before!" Astrid began.

"So what if instead of just a race for athletic people, we put some mental challenges in there too," Hiccup suggested.

"That could work. Maybe make it strategy like?"

"Yeah! That sounds great!"

The pair got so caught up in their planning that they completely lost track of time. Suddenly, Astrid felt the familiar feel of vibration from within her pocket. As she removed the buzzing electronic device, she took note of the time. _Crap! It's almost midnight already_! "Hey, dad…" she mumbled softly. "Yes, yes, I know it's late." "I just lost track of time." "Yes, I'll head home now." "Yeah sorry I was working on my lab report over at my lab partner's house." "Hiccup Haddock." "Okay, bye dad."

"Sorry Astrid, I didn't realize it had gotten so late," Hiccup apologized.

"No, no…It's not your fault. I completely lost track of time too. But if it hadn't been for all your sarcasm, we may have finished at a reasonable time," she said as she punched Hiccup firmly in the shoulder. The punch meant to be a little lighter, but Astrid never went half-hearted on anything. "Really though, I had a lot of fun tonight." She hesitated for a moment, brushing her bangs away from her face, "thanks again for the ice cream…and for everything else." Just like the night when Hiccup rescued her, Astrid leaned over and planted a kiss on his smooth cheek before turning to head out the door. The same electrifying feeling sprung into her lips and spread across her body in a wave of warmth. Just before jumping into her car, she looked back at the magnificent house one last time; Hiccup was still standing by the front door, his left hand touching the spot on his cheek where she had kissed him.

Astrid woke up early the next morning for her cross country meet. As she gathered her uniform and running shoes, she couldn't help but wish that she was on her way to the race that she and Hiccup had been planning the previous night instead of to a cross country one. This got Astrid thinking about the details of the Labor Day race. It turned out to not really be an obstacle course, but it was still to be fun. So far they had come up with a set of rules that included several laps around a circuit. Racers had to collect various items throughout the loop. And at the final check point, racers would have to figure out what the items meant. In addition, there would be one special article that only one racer could find and it would merit a grand prize at the awards ceremony. While this race was unique in that it included both physical and academic aspects, Astrid was most excited about the theme of it- Dragons! She and Hiccup both decided on this theme as the official symbol of Berk County was the Dragon. All decorations would be dragon-themed and racers would be strongly encouraged to dress up as dragons or dragon riders.

As Astrid stepped up to the start line before the gun sent the runners on their way, she was still thinking about the upcoming Dragon Race. She was so excited for it. When the starter finally sounded the gun, Astrid imagined herself as a dragon, taking off to go see the world from above. Her daydream propelled her around the turns and up the hills, her imaginary wings flapping with vigor. However, when Astrid got past the first mile, it finally sunk in that she was actually running a race which required a lot of energy instead of soaring high above the clouds. It was go time now, she determined, staring down the runners in front of her.

The finish was going to be close- Astrid was desperately trying to fight off Heather. They had been battling and exchanging leads throughout the entire third mile. Astrid tried to imagine herself as a dragon once again. This gave her the last push of adrenaline that propelled her across the line, fractions of a second in front of her rival.

In her exhausted state, Astrid thought she saw Hiccup standing at the finish line; unfortunately, her heart fell as she realized that her oxygen-deprived brain had deceived her. Instead, she was greeted by an extremely large hand and clipboard on her shoulder. "Good race lad! Ya sure powered through that finish, er!" Gobber cheered excitedly.

Hiccup called Astrid Sunday afternoon with some not so good news. Apparently, the mayor was not pleased with the duo changing the mechanics of the annual race that had been running for many, many years. This news hit her like a wrecking ball; this new race was something that she was truly excited for and really enjoyed planning. It helped distract her from the stress of senior year. And besides, what was so bad about trying something new and starting new traditions? "Please, can you try to change his mind? Tell him how amazing it's going to be!" Astrid pleaded.

"You don't know my father. He's typically not one for change… or compromise. Let's just get some decorations for the regular Labor Day race that match the previous years."

"Come on! I'm sure you can at least try to convince him otherwise!"

"Yeahh…about that. That's a no go."

"Okayyy, whatever you say. We are definitely _not_ going to plan the Dragon Race then," Astrid remarked sardonically.

"I thought we were supposed to be on the same team here!"

Astrid walked into homeroom on Monday and placed a single sheet of paper in front of Hiccup. It had the words "First Annual Berk County Dragon Race" printed in bold letters at the top. The page further went on to list some of the rules, highlighting _Awards will be given to top finishers. Prizes will be given to all finishers who can complete the puzzle in addition to a GRAND PRIZE that will be given to the racer than finds the special object_! However, what dominated the page the most was an ornately drawn dragon, flying above the clouds. Astrid had spent all of Sunday night coming up with these race flyers and she really hoped that Hiccup would like them. She had even gotten her Uncle Bucket to do the drawing, as he was known for his amazing artwork. The girl saw the way he picked up the piece of paper and scrutinized it, turning it slightly in front of him, just as she had done when he handed her the pre-lab.

"What do you think?" she asked eagerly.

"It's really good. I do love them…but I told you we can have the Dragon Race."

"Oh come on! Once your dad sees these and some of the other decorations I made, he won't be able to resist!"

"Um trust me, he will. Again, _very, very_ stubborn."

"Well then, I think I know what I'll have to do," Astrid pronounced in a cunning voice.

"Oh boy!" Hiccup moaned.

Astrid realized that she should use her role as senior class president to her advantage. Because of this, pretty much everyone in the school knew her. She would tell her fellow classmates about their race idea and have them pass it on to others who lived in Berk County. She hoped that if a town full of people supported the Dragon Race, then it would be impossible for the mayor to refuse. How would he be able to deny his people of something they liked and were looking forward to? However, Astrid knew that Hiccup would condone this plan; that's why she would have to implement it behind his back. She decided to start with the twins, Ruff and Tuff, because they were very well known for their loud mouths. And she supposed, who better than Scott, the quarterback of the football team to spread news around. Everyone was sure to listen to him, whether they liked it or not.

At lunch, Astrid called over a group of people. "Okay, listen up everyone. It's very important that you pay attention and back me up with what I am about to say."

"But…" Scott tried.

"Just hear me out, okay?"

"Fine, but you never listen to me when I ask you out." Astrid really didn't know how to respond to this, so she decided to just ignore the burly guy in front of her.

"So you all know about the annual Berk County Labor Day Race, right?" Astrid received looks of confusion from her fellow classmates. "Exactly! Just what I thought" she continued. "But what if we made the Labor Day race something new and exciting, something for everyone to enjoy!"

Scott interrupted again, "but isn't a race supposed to be for only those who can run and are athletic…like me?"

"You're missing the point. Traditionally, yes but not this race. We were thinking of doing a Dragon Race. I know how it sounds, but there will be objects that will need to be collected throughout the course. On the final lap, each racer has to figure out the hidden message in their collected objects. Plus there will be one super-secret item hidden that is worth the grand prize- probably money of some sort. Racers will receive prizes for both finishing the course first as well as completing the hidden message. And the rules of any regular race remain too, that being the fastest person wins. Any questions?"

"Yeah, how is it a Dragon Race?" Tuff asked, scratching his head.

"Oh! Thank you! I completely forgot to mention that. Yes, it's called a Dragon Race because the official symbol of Berk County is the dragon! So everything will be dragon themed. Racers are encouraged to dress up as dragons or dragon riders or just anything dragon related. That way, it can be fun for people of all ages. We are still working out the details, but I plan to post these," she said, producing the stack of fliers that she had shown Hiccup earlier this morning, "all around to get everyone from the county to come."

"So what's in it for us?" Scott probed.

"Well, you get to say that you were part of the planning for the first annual Berk County Dragon Race. That's something you can put on college aps. And it will really fun, I promise! Not to mention, racing is a great way to blow off steam during senior year."

"You can count on us for getting the word out. It actually sounds kinda fun. I like races. Me and Ruff and gonna kill it!" Tuff cheered.

"Do we get to blow up anything or set stuff on fire?" Ruff asked. Astrid shot the girl a face that said "are you kidding me."

"No. No you will not get to blow up anything." Both Ruff and Tuff looked utterly disappointed.

As Astrid was getting ready to exit the school building at the end of the day, she was a very annoyed looking Hiccup, quickly approaching her. "Astrid! What are all these!" Hiccup screeched and pointed to the several Dragon Race flyers hanging around the school. "I thought we agreed on no Dragon Race."

"Oh come on Hiccup! Everyone loved the idea. Pretty much all the seniors are backing me up on this. Seriously, it's going to be fun. They all are going to help us out with all the race rules."

"And who are _they_?"

"Oh you know, the twins Ruff and Tuff, Scott, the whole cross country team, pretty much everyone."

"Oh great…" Hiccup grunted. "How am I going to explain this one to my dad?"

"Well, what exactly does he have to do to get ready for it? If you tell him you are all done with the decorations, there really isn't much more to prepare."

"I guess I'm not really sure what else he has to do other than announcements. So you're pretty much saying we are just going to go behind his back and doing it anyways."

"Welll… he can't deny his people what they want, can they now!


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Hiccup woke up from a nap to the all too familiar sound of the garage door opening and large footsteps, pounding their way around the kitchen. He had drifted asleep thinking about the previous night when Astrid was over, and these thoughts carried over to his dreams. In one particularly good one, Astrid had just pulled away from kissing Hiccup's cheek and Hiccup had taken the girl into his arms, swooped her over, and planted a kiss square on her lips. She then told Hiccup "I've been waiting for you to do that for forever." Hiccup was jolted from his Astrid thoughts by a heavy bag being dropped, shaking the entire house. He sprung up from the couch because the last thing he wanted was his father to catch him sleeping and make comments how he was always "goofing off and getting nothing done."

"Hey dad, you're home. How was the business trip?" The large man sighed deeply and shook his head ever so slightly.

"I trust at least that everything in Berk County ran smoothly while I was away. I spoke to Gobber on my way home and he assured me there were no major incedents that he was aware of. That is correct, right?"

"Yup, dad, Berk's as good as ever! Just as small and weird as when you left! Nothing got set on fire and no one got killed!"

"Okay good. Because I got nowhere with those Meatheads, I will have to be gone again this week. That means that you will be acting mayor for a few more days until I return this weekend. Your sole focus is…"

"Let me guess, the Labor Day race!" Hiccup interjected sarcastically.

"Well don't look so excited!"

"I'm excited. Oh I love setting up stands and putting up banners and getting everyone fired up to watch a few old people run slowly down the street."

"Well, I thought I told you to start planning those decorations; however, I don't see any signs or banners or anything that says "Race,"' Stoick accused.

"Yeah, yeah," Hiccup mumbled. "I've been pretty busy with school and stuff."

"Hiccup, this race is a Berk County tradition. It's been around for many, many years."

"Yeah, I know, dad, but couldn't we do something a little more… fun, current, different?"

"Like what?" he gruffed.

"Like a race that involves finding various objects hidden throughout the course. And you would have to figure out what the items meant. That way there could be both athletic winners and intellectual winners. Fun for everyone. And we could make it dragon-themed. You know, like the official symbol of Berk County. We can call it a Dragon Race," Hiccup tried to explain.

The older man looked very sternly at his son, "I will say it again. The race is a tradition. There will be no dragon whatever. Got it?"

"Yeah, me and Toothless have got it," he said, bending down to pet the large black cat currently circling his ankles.

"Good, that's my boy." Stoick said mid-turn as he disappeared up the stairs.

Hiccup felt defeated. He sat back down on the large leather couch, cat resting his head in Hiccup's lap. "Toothless, I don't understand. Why is he so adamant on this stupid race? Why can't he just accept change for the better, especially after all the time Astrid and I spent planning this new Dragon Race? He won't even give it a chance. How am I expected to tell that to Astrid?"

Despite finally notifying Astrid of his father's dismay of the race, on Monday he was handed a hand-made flyer, advertising their plans. Hiccup was truly impressed with all the hard work that obviously went into the flyer; the detailed drawing of a dragon was amazing. Hiccup didn't care that it was done by her Uncle Bucket. It was still great. As much as Hiccup wanted to go through with the race, he knew that he couldn't afford to go against his father's wishes. Stoick was already disappointed in him as a son, and sabotaging the annual race would further solidify that fact.

Although, Astrid's cunning voice told Hiccup that she was not going to take no as an answer. She was going to do the race one way of another, and she obviously already had a plan of action. Hiccup decided that it was better if he stayed out of that plan. That way, he wouldn't be the one to be blamed by Stoick the Vast- and he was pretty sure that he wouldn't be mad at Astrid. After all, she is Astrid and everyone in Berk loved her.

The Wednesday before the annual Labor Day Race, Hiccup arrived at school to find the Hallways plastered with announcements and advertisements for Berk County's First Annual Dragon Race. Astrid was nowhere to be found in homeroom. Fishlegs explained that she had said something to their homeroom teacher and promptly left the room. Hiccup cursed quietly to himself and tried to devise a way to stop the spread of the idea. He decided he would go to Astrid's lunch period later in the day and talk to her and the rest of her friends directly. Hiccup didn't exactly have a lunch period because he was taking an extra science class, but he figured that obeying his father's wishes warranted skipping class for a few moments.

As Hiccup walked into the crowded lunchroom, rank with many conflicting smells, a sense of confidence washed over him. Knowing that he had orders to uphold, he marched over to the senior section where Astrid was sitting, along with the twins, Scott, and many other people. Hiccup cleared his throat to draw everyone's attention to him, rather than the deafening sounds of conversation that filled the lunchroom. Astrid was finally the one to get everyone to pay attention to the skinny boy standing at the head of their long table. Hiccup felt a sudden sense of nervousness wash over his body that wasn't there a moment ago. Here he was, addressing a group of seniors that weren't exactly his friends…well except Astrid.

"Hey everyone…I hate to be that guy but there isn't going to be a Dragon Race this weekend," Hiccup sputtered weakly.

"Why not?" Scott snapped.

"Because as acting mayor for the week, I've been given strict order to uphold the traditions of the county and run the annual Labor Day race the same as previous years," the boy tried to explain to the defiant football player.

Scott seemed to be fuming. "Who made you mayor?"

"Stoick, the actual mayor," Astrid spat.

"So, who made Stoick mayor…" Scott interrogated. "Just wondering."

"I'm really, really sorry, everyone."

The twins whined, "Aw man, come on! We were finally getting on board with this whole thing and had some really good ideas that may or may not involve lots of fire!"

"Astrid, will you please back me up on this?" Hiccup said through gritted teeth.

"Okayy guys, you heard the acting mayor… no Dragon Race," the girl remarked sarcastically.

"Thank you." With that, Hiccup turned and made his way out of the cafeteria and off to his class.

Saturday morning was beautiful. From Hiccup's window, he could just see the sun making its appearance over the tree tops, which were just beginning to show their fall colors. Sparse droplets of dew glistened on the emerald glass of the lawn, signaling warmth that would soon be gone for many, many months.

Stoick got home very late the night before. Hiccup had heard the garage door open in his half-conscious state. He figured that it would still be a while before he got up to go to the race, as he certainly did enjoy his beauty sleep. Careful not to make too much noise, the boy and his cat crept down the stairs to get breakfast. Even though neither Hiccup nor Toothless would actually be running in the Labor Day race that day, they still had to be on their feet all day to help make things go smoothly. Part of Hiccup's job was to get to the course very early to finish the set-up, make sure the start-finish line was in place, help hand out race numbers, and make sure the other volunteers were there.

Hiccup loaded up a few more signs, got Toothless in his harness, and drove to the course site. They arrived at roughly 8:00, still two hours before the starting gun would sound. As Hiccup rubbed his still sleep-filled eyes, he looked around at the loop where the runners would parade around. Something didn't look right. There was far too many decorations and people for this early in the morning. Looking closer at the decorations, he could see that they were all dragon-themed. There were large cardboard cutouts of dragons of many different colors and sizes. Hiccup spotted Astrid, directing two large guys on ladders how to properly hang a banner.

"Astriddd!" Hiccup yelled over at a girl with blue war paint on her face and large blue dragon wings attached to her back.

"Oh good morning Hiccup!" she greeted cheerfully.

Hiccup groaned, "oh, you've gotta be kidding me. Where was the love for the acting mayor! I thought I was pretty clear- no Dragon Race." The girl looked over at Hiccup and gave him a wide, goofy smile that made Hiccup's heart melt. "Oh man, my dad is going to kill me!" he muttered to himself. Suddenly, both Hiccup and Astrid spun around at the sound of shrieks heading their direction.

"Hey! I get to hide the rubber fish! That's not fair!" Ruff shouted as she chased after her brother who was dangling a small rubber fish above his head.

Tuff smirked, "tough luck! You should have gotten to it faster! Suck it, sis!" When the crazy twins finally passed, Hiccup redirected his attention to the beautiful blonde girl who was now bending over to pick up some trash. "So you are just going to disregard everything the mayor said? I repeat, MAYOR!"

Astrid put on her puppy dog face, "come on, Hiccup. You said it yourself, your dad wasn't going to be home for a few days, right?"

"No, not right! Very not right! He got home last night! He'll be here by race time." Astrid sighed and looked around.

"Okay… well I got pretty much the whole town to back me up on this one. Your father is going to have to stop all of us from running the race!"

"I get that part, but I told you _big_ father, no like _big_ change. He's going to blame me. I'll probably get kicked out of the house. He won't pay for college. I'll have to live on the streets as a hobo and most likely get murdered!"

Astrid tried again, "please just wait until he sees everything. We have done far too much work to just tear everything down right then and there!"

"Fine, but please bring me food when I'm living as a hobo!" Hiccup decided that he had no choice other than to go along with the Dragon Race. As he further looked about at the decorations, he became more and more amazed. Not only where there cardboard cutouts of dragons, but pretty much every person who was already there was dressed up as a dragon. In addition, there were several fire pits, torches, candles, and pretty much everything you could think of that was fire-related (courtesy of Ruff and Tuff). In addition to the large banner above the start-finish there were tables set up with laminated paper objects. It was explained to Hiccup that those were the item that runners had to collect on each lap and then figure out what they mean.

"So was the rubber fish that Ruff and Tuff were fighting over the hidden grand prize object?" Hiccup asked Astrid.

"Yup! It sure is! I have read in some old tales that fish are a dragon's main diet!"

"Nice touch. Really everything looks great! I do have to admit that it is awesome! I really hope my dad appreciates all the hard work that everyone put into it, especially you. Thank you." He truly was impressed with everything. Astrid had put in so much hard work, and it really showed. He couldn't help but admire how the blue war pair brought out her sapphire eyes. For a tender moment, Hiccup and Astrid looked into each other's gaze. The boy could feel the warmth of her smile radiating throughout his entire body. More than anything, Hiccup wanted to embrace her- kiss her even- and let her know how much everything meant to him. But Hiccup was too scared and too unsure to bring himself to do anything yet. Maybe after the race, once he had seen everything she did.

As time passed, more and more people showed up to the race. Hiccup was pretty sure that he had never seen more people in his county than he did at that moment. What was even more amusing was the fact that many of the race participants were also dressed up as dragons or dragon riders too. And the costumes weren't just limited to the young racers as a few participants sprouted both dragon wings and gray hair!

Just before the race began, a large, towering figure appeared in the crowd. Participants obediently parted to make way for the man. As he neared the starting line where his son was standing, Hiccup could feel a lump start to form in the base of his throat. By the time the giant finally spotted his lanky offspring, the lump in Hiccup's throat felt like the size of a watermelon. Hiccup didn't know whether he should say anything or just let his father unleash all of his rage and disappointment first. Stoick was the one to ultimately make this decision for him.

"This does not look like the annual Labor Day race to me!" he bellowed. "What is with all the dragon decorations?" Hiccup was silent for a moment, trying to will his voice box to work.

"I-I, um, I know this looks bad, dad, b-but I can explain…" Hiccup began weakly.

"You better," thundered the mayor.

"Well, ugh we, realized that nobody was coming to this race because it was a little, ugh…" Hiccup motioned around with his hands, trying to find the right word. "Well, boring I guess." The younger Haddock paused for a second. "Just look at all these people, dad. They are all out her to support Berk County, raising money for it! They all love our new idea!" Hiccup went through and explained the race rules to his father. By now, his rough facial expression had softened slightly.

The older man looked his son dead in the eyes, "and who is this _we_?"

"We? Did I say we? Oops. No I meant me. This was all my doing. No one else had anything to do with this, especially Astrid," Hiccup laughed nervously.

"So, you were totally disregarding my orders?"

"Yup, yup just like away." All of the sudden, Stoick did the thing that Hiccup least expected- he started laughing. It started out as a little chuckle, but gradually grew into a roar. Hiccup tried to mimic his laugh, only succeeding in making the situation that much more awkward.

"Y-you're not mad?"

The mayor stopped laughing just as quickly as he had started, "Well again, you completely went behind my back; however, look at all these people. They look so…so…what's the word?"

"Happy, excited, spirited?" Hiccup filled in.

"Exactly," Stoick continued, slapping his son on the back. "How in the world could I deny them of that? We will run this Dragon Race and we will run it right! I will command the start and be in charge of making sure people don't cheat. Whoever wins the running race or the mental race will get a cash prize from me. You got it?" The county's leader didn't even wait for his son to give an indication of approval before he stomped off again.

Just before 10:00, Stoick stood in the center of the start/finish line, facing the people of Berk County. One volunteer offered him a microphone, but the large man pushed it aside. If Stoick the Vast was a champion at anything, it would be yelling. Most likely, his years of being in politics had contributed to that impressive talent. "Ladies and Gentlemen of Berk County," he bellowed vociferously. "Welcome to the First Annual Dragon Race!" A chorus of cheers erupted from the crowd of participants. Once the commotion died down, Stoick went on to further explain the rules in his thunderous voice. Meanwhile, Hiccup was standing on the side of the start/finish line, holding the button that would soon start the clock as the race began. Even with Astrid standing beside him, exuding perfection, Hiccup was nervous for some reason. He felt responsible for the success of the race. What if it all went wrong? What if people cheated or nobody could figure out what the objects meant? Or fights? What if people got into a fight over the super-secret object, especially since there was now a sum of money at stake? He just didn't have a good feeling about things. Through Hiccup's reeling mind, he could make out Stoick's booming voice set the runners up. "On your marks, get set, GOOOOOOO!" Stoick shot the starting gun into the air and Hiccup instinctively pressed the button to begin the clock. With that, the Dragon Racers were off.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

"Hey guys! Thank you so much for meeting with me after school to further discuss the Dragon Race this weekend. We have to make this quick because I have practice soon, so let's get started." A large group of high schoolers gathered around the girl in the senior parking lot. School had just gotten out, so a large volume of cars were zooming by them as they congregated. "Okay, so you already know the rules because I explained them at lunch the other day.

"Ugh, no you didn't," protested Scott.

Astrid sighed, "all right, I'll go over them one more time for those of you who were not paying attention." She listed off the basic instructions and kept having to snap Scott back to reality when his mind drifted to various girls walking across the parking lot to their cars. "So now that we are all on the same page, we can assign volunteer jobs. Ruff, Tuff- you guys are in charge of getting the objects ready throughout the course, including hiding the super special one. Also, bring portable tables. I know you have several from all the parties you guys throw." The twins high-fived at this and gave each other nods of approval. "Scott, you are in charge of checking people in and giving them their numbers." Astrid gave her teammates several more jobs that included things like manning the snack stations and costume contest directors and directing some of the games that were going to be set up for the younger kid. "And it would be a huge help if you all could come early to help set up. Thank you guys in advance! This is going to be so much fun!" she squealed as she turned away from the group and headed over to the track.

Saturday morning, Astrid was the first person to arrive at the race location. Thankfully for her, the holiday weekend meant that she didn't have an actual cross country race so she could devote all her time to the dragon race. She had spent the previous night working on and perfecting her dragon costume that she would sport at the race. She had cut out large cardboard wings and painted them a brilliant blue and had fastened them in such a way that she could wear them much like she would wear a backpack. A tail that was fastened to her slim waist perfectly matched the set of wings. In addition, she had purchased some blue face paint to transform her into a fierce warrior.

Astrid had loaded as much of the decorations into her car as her trunk space would allow. The other volunteers would have the remaining props and tables; nevertheless, Astrid decided it would ultimately save time later if she unloaded what she had. The darkness of the early morning gave the girl added challenges in setting up. Thankfully, it wasn't too long before the twins showed up, along with some of her teammates following close behind. When the twins emerged from their car, it was evident that they went all out with their costumes. Tuff somehow managed to paint his entire body a ghastly shade of yellow. Ruff's war paint was a little more subtle, but her green dragon wings definitely rivaled those of her twin's.

"Great! You're here!" Astrid cheered as she ran over to help the twins unload tables from the back of their car. The twins stood in front of the opening, preventing Astrid from accessing whatever was loaded in the back. "What are you two hiding from me?" she questioned, obviously knowing something was up. Ruff and Tuff looked at each other and quickly muttered 'nothing' in a very guilty tone. Astrid finally shoved past them to take a look at what they were concealing. There were no tables in the trunk. None. Instead, the twins had completely filled the trunk with torches, lighter fluid, fireworks, logs, lighters, and pretty much anything else fire related that existed (and was legal).

"I thought I said no blowing anything up!" The twins looked at each other again.

"We didn't make any promises," Ruff shrugged.

"Nope!" agreed Tuff. "And don't dragons like breath fire? What's a Dragon Race without fire then?" He did have a point there.

Astrid gave in, "I guess you're right about that. But just please don't kill or hurt anyone!"

The fact that race day was finally here put Astrid in such a great mood; nevertheless, she felt a strange twinge of anxiety sitting deep within her chest. What would Hiccup say when he arrived and saw that she had gone behind his back? What if he was so mad at her that he never wanted to talk to her again? She couldn't possibly afford to lose his friendship- he was the nicest, funniest, and most genuine person she had ever met in her life. But there was really no sense in worrying now as she was already way too deep in this plan to suddenly have regrets. Besides, she was way too excited to keep worrying.

And surprise, surprise! Scott was the last of the volunteers to show up. He really did not look like he was having a good morning, as he was practically dragging his feet behind him. However, Astrid couldn't help but chuckle when she saw his attempt at dragon spirit. He was wearing a plane white shirt with messy black letters that said "DRAGON" scrawled across the top. Well, at least he tried…somewhat.

As Astrid was directing Scott and another large boy from the football team on how to properly hang one of the banners that she had made, she heard a familiar nasally voice call her name from across the parking lot. "Astriddd!" As Hiccup walked over to where she was standing, she couldn't help but admire how the early morning sunlight reflected on his messy, brown hair, creating a sort of glow around him. She became entranced in his form as he moved methodically towards her.

"Oh good morning, Hiccup!" she greeted smiling brightly. She noted how the boy seemed annoyed, but not furious. Hopefully he would be fine with everything. How could he not be? Everything looked amazing, he would have to admit. Thankfully, after the initial confrontation, Hiccup seemed to relax about the idea as he wasn't the only one that was good at convincing. He especially liked the idea for the grand prize! In addition, his subtle compliments about the decorations and ideas made Astrid's heart flutter. He was standing so close- just within her reach. Once again, she got the insatiable urge to lean over and kiss him right on the lips. This time, she wouldn't back out. She shifted her weight ever so slightly in his direction, getting ready to embrace him and thank him for being so supportive and understanding about the Dragon Race- especially after going behind his back. Unfortunately for Astrid, Ruff and Tuff set off a firework at that exact moment, illuminating the sky and directing everyone's attention to the fiery sparks- including Hiccup's. The moment was gone. Astrid cursed silently to herself.

As Stoick's thunderous voice sounded out across the field of racers, Astrid took her place right next to Hiccup at the starting line. Even though Astrid was supposed to be one of the referees throughout the course, something about standing next to him just felt right. She would go monitor the racers after it started. "On your marks, get set, GOOOOOOO!" Stoick shot the starting gun into the air and the racers were off. Being a cross country runner, Astrid instinctively jumped at the sound of the starting gun, but she quickly remembered that it wasn't her that had to race.

Astrid turned and faced Hiccup. "This is it! This is the moment we have worked so hard for!"

Hiccup nodded, "I know! I really hope everything goes as planned."

"Don't worry, it will," Astrid reassured, even though she was quite nervous as well. "With you and me as a team there is nothing to worry about." She tried to put on the brightest, most genuine smile she could manage and thankfully was rewarded with a perfect, crooked smile in return.

The first racer came around to complete the first lap. Scott? Astrid thought. He's a volunteer! He's definitely not supposed to be racing! After a moment of thought and hesitation, Astrid decided to allow him to continue to race. As the race's referee, she had they ultimate say. She had concluded that he wouldn't have an unfair advantage over the other racers because he didn't know where the super-secret object was hidden, and he didn't know the answer to the academic riddle. Besides, he would probably cause less trouble on the course than he would as a volunteer.

Consequently, he was given a laminated piece of paper with the phrases "I dance and leap into the night" "And grow and shrink within your sight." Soon, a whole group of runners dashed by the finish line to complete the first of five laps. With each lap completed, a new piece of the riddle was handed out. The subsequent clues were "To harness me is quite the feat" "For I am sure to bring the heat." "I make new things, I give you good" "But use me wrong and you are screwed." "A sure great find when first was made" "But now some wish they could evade." "Have tongues and forks but cannot taste" "Though what I eat is turned to waste."

Every couple of minutes of so, the twins would set off a series of fireworks. They probably had enough ammunition to out-do most Fourth of July celebrations. Astrid wondered how they had accumulated so many fireworks, but knowing Ruff and Tuff, it was probably better not to ask. And Astrid kind of liked how the excessive amounts of fire perfectly went along with the answer to the race riddle.

As the first wave of runners came down the final stretch of parking lot to the finish line, Astrid made her way over to the start-finish line where Hiccup was standing and collecting the race numbers of finishers. Astrid convinced herself that the reason she was headed in this direction was to help Hiccup as it was pretty overwhelming to tear off the bottoms of all the finishers; however, the reality of the situation was the Astrid just really wanted to be around Hiccup. She couldn't help but admire the intense concentration on his face as he tried to keep up with the influx of runners and the way his fingers nimbly tore at the race number.

"Hey! Do you need any help over here?" the girl asked sweetly.

"Naw, I love being the only one to deal with hundreds of name tags," remarked Hiccup. Astrid smiled slightly and took her place next to Hiccup. With the two of them working together, the finish line ran a lot smoother. At one point, both Hiccup and Astrid reached for the same number at exactly the same time. Their fingers brushed slightly and Astrid felt a wave of electricity travel from her hand, up through her arm, and eventually settle deep within her chest. Even though she relished the touch, she instinctively drew back her hand. He looked up and saw the Hiccup had done the same. The girl couldn't be positive, but she thought she saw a hint of red flush into Hiccup's cheeks making her wonder if he felt that same electric shock that she did.

Again, Astrid thought back on her mental promise that she made to herself earlier that day: she would finally get the guts and actually kiss Hiccup- on the lips, for real. That jolt of electricity from their fingers touching gave her an extra sense of confidence; however, their job of tearing numbers prevented her from actually acting on it.

"Did you see who won the race?" Astrid heard a nasally voice ask.

"No, who?"

"Scott. I thought he was supposed to be a volunteer!"

Astrid laughed, "so did I! I was just as surprised as anyone when I saw him cross the finish line after lap one! Though I figured that he didn't have an unfair advantage because he didn't know where the super-secret object was hidden or what the riddle was. Besides, there's nothing worse that an angry Scott when he can't get his way."

"How did he even get a number to compete in the first place?" Astrid thought for a second, and suddenly her face fell.

"Um, well, that may have possibly been my fault. I probably shouldn't have made him in charge of handing out numbers! I guess he can never resist a competition!"

At this, Hiccup started laughing, "classic Scott!" Astrid was relieved that Hiccup wasn't mad at her lapse in judgment. After all, how was she supposed to know that he would steal a race number!"

While Scott may have won the athletic part of the race overall, a familiar girl not only won the running race for females, but she was also the first person to solve the riddle. This girl's name was Heather. While she technically didn't live in Berk County, there were no official rules that stated that outsiders were not allowed to participate. Nevertheless, Astrid was still a little surprised that she decided to come to the race.

Once Astrid had finished her duty of tearing off numbers, she made her way over to Heather. The two girls had known each other for forever since the first started doing cross country in middle school and had gone head to head in races more times that Astrid could count. While they were rivals on the track, they respected each other at the finish; therefore, Astrid decided to say hi and see how the girl was doing. The runner girls ended up talking for a while about senior year and training. All was great with Heather, except the fact that she noticed a particular someone standing over at the finish line. All she said was "who's that cutie over there," but that was enough to send a tsunami of jealousy crashing through Astrid, washing up unwanted thoughts in Astrid's mind. This finally made up Astrid's mind to march right over to Hiccup and finally give him that kiss that she had desired for so long. However, when Astrid turned around in his direction, she saw him face to face with the largest, most grotesque looking man she had ever seen.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Hiccup was the first to see it- a strange yet, familiar face made its way through the crowd. This gargantuan of a human being was dressed in a worn leather jacket and faded jeans. Where there was not a scar on his skin, there was a large tattoo: skulls, weapons, and other images depicting death. The giant grimaced, revealing teeth that were filed down to fang-like points. A terrified shiver ran down Hiccup's spine, yet he was still somehow unable to take his eyes off this mysterious man.

Suddenly, Hiccup could see another large man making his way through the crowd. Although still quite large, the second man was definitely quite smaller than the first. To Hiccup's disbelief and horror, he recognized the second man as his father, slowly approaching the first. He had to be crazy to approach this man! Just the mere sight of him for afar was enough to make a grown man crap his pants. But approaching him…now that was pure madness. Hiccup wanted more than anything to stop his father's actions, but what would he be able to do? Stoick never listened- he was far too stubborn. And it definitely wasn't like Hiccup could use brute force to stop him. He was a talking fishbone after all!

Through the man's jeans, Hiccup could just make out the outline of something that definitely resembled a gun. Whatever this man wanted, he wanted to get it through violence. Hiccup prayed that for once, Stoick would swallow his pride and give the giant whatever it was that he wanted, for an image of the gun being pressed to his father's forehead flashed through his mind.

With much dismay, Hiccup could see that the two large men had begun a heated conversation. Thankfully Stoick is a champion yeller and he always finds a way to win…right? As words were exchanged between the two, Hiccup began to doubt his father's superiority more and more. Finally, the boy heard the loudest sound he had ever heard another human being make. No this sound did not come from his assertive father, but rather from the larger man who was extremely red in the face and now holding his gun in front of him.

The commotion of the running crowd suddenly died down to a ghostly whisper at this eruption of sound. Everyone was frozen. Nobody knew what to do. Except Hiccup. He knew that he had to help his father. He had to help him try to stop the gunman. He was not the hero-type at all, but he knew that he couldn't just stand there and watch as this brute of a man shot the most important man in his life… or worse if he shot his father AND the entire county. All of the sudden, Hiccup's legs took off in a run without his full consent. They traveled faster than he thought that they had ever traveled before. He felt like Astrid at practice that one day, legs propelling her around the track at lightning speed. The world became silent. The only thing that Hiccup could hear was the sound of his own feet pounding the Earth, one after the other like the gallop of a horse. As he neared the monster, his legs were still moving. Thankfully the noise of previously silent crowd's sudden chaotic screaming blocked out the sound of Hiccup frantically running towards the man with the gun. Stoick saw the boy before the grotesque man did. He mouthed the word "NOOOO," but no sound would come out. Hiccup stood beside his father and placed his body between the man and the rest of the crowd. His heart thumped violently and he saw his own life now flash before his eyes _. I have to at least give this a try_ , Hiccup thought and forced himself to swallow the massive lump in the back of his throat. If he died and saved his father or the rest of the crowd, it would all be worth it… right?

Even though Hiccup was already a thin boy, he appeared minuscule next to the gunman. After what seemed like an eternity, Hiccup finally opened his mouth. He meant for his words to sound more forceful, but they only came across as a desperate whimper. "Please! You don't have to do this! Just tell us what you want." The large man let out the most wretched, bone-chilling chuckle Hiccup had ever heard.

"You? You of all people are trying to stop me? The walking stick! Please! What a joke!"

Stoick turned and faced his son, "Hiccup, you don't have to do this. I'm larger and can take care of it myself." Hiccup spun away from his father and looked the grotesque man straight in the eyes.

"No, _you_ do not have to do this!"

He scoffed, "do what? Get revenge for the inhumane, unjustified, belligerent way your town has treated me?"

"Whatever happened, I'm sure it was an accident. Look, while the people of Berk County may be ruff, annoying, loud-mouthed, and stubborn, they are still among the nicest group of people you could ever hope to meet." It was working- even if only for a little bit. Hiccup was managing to distract the gunman, giving other racers a chance to exit the premises. However, many Berkians remained as backup, including Astrid, Stoick, Gobber, Ruff, Tuff, Fishlegs, and Scott who had all come over and stood near Hiccup, making him appear larger and more powerful. They didn't try to physically stop the man, because they knew that he could easily fire a shot.

"Oh, but if you only knew. That man," he said as he pointed over to Stoick, "has given me nothing but disappointment. I thought mayors were supposed to be all generous and help out fellow citizens in need. Nope, not that brute. He refuses to give me any sort of loans and tells me "that's none of his business." Bullshit I tell you. Utter bullshit!" The man's face was growing redder and redder by the second as he continued to sputter. "And, you little twig, you know what happens to people who don't give me food money when disability keeps me from work? They pay for it by death. Not just your stupid little mayor- but everyone in this stupid little county! Maybe that will teach them not to mess with its citizens!" If this scene had been a cartoon, his head would have been steaming. By now, his face was the shade of blood.

Come to find out, this crazy man had been given the nickname "The Red Death" many years ago due to his violent outbursts and extremely red face. Hiccup remembered that his father used to talk about dreaded The Red Death whenever a crime occurred around Berk County, stating that he was most likely involved in some way. Unfortunately, no matter how many policemen and women Stoick sent out to find The Red Death, he never could. It was said that he lived in the woods somewhere, secluded yet still deadly.

"Please, sir! I'm sure everything was just a big misunderstanding. These people did nothing wrong. Mayor Stoick did nothing wrong. Giving out subsidies is not part of a mayor's duty. There are many organizations that donate food to the needy…" Hiccup was cut off by the Red Death raising his gun and pointing directly at Hiccup's forehead. While the boy managed to distract the gunman for a little bit, he was obviously too steadfast in his idea to abandon it by the mere words of a skinny teenager.

The Red Death uttered in his most menacing voice, "you want to try to control me? To tell me what did and did not happen. Well, you forgot that I have _this_ that will make you eat your words!"

Just as the Red Death was about to release the trigger, sending the bullet flying through Hiccup's head, Toothless ran over to where the commotion was happening. He had finally managed to escape from his harness just in time. The large, black cat extended his claws as far as they possibly would go and dug them into the Red Death's jeans, tearing first at fabric, then at flesh. The man screamed in pain and bent down towards his clawed leg, attempting to kick the animal in the process. But Toothless was too strong. He held on for dear life, sinking his claws deeper and deeper into the gunman's leg. As he did this, his gun slowly lowered; however, his large finger still sat firmly on the trigger.

BANG! A shot erupted from the barrel of the gun, sending vibrations reverberating through the air. The bullet struck something hard, and made an absolutely terrible sound upon impact. At first, it was uncertain what the bullet hit; however, a steady stream of blood began seeping from underneath Hiccup's left pant leg. It wasn't until Hiccup looked down that he registered that he had been shot. Slowly, the searing pain crept up his leg and engulfed his body.

Meanwhile, Toothless and the Red Death were still fighting. The gunman was screaming in pain, trying to get the large black cat off of him. This was definitely a time when being a black puma instead of a regular black cat had it advantages. His larger size and natural instincts made him a deadly predator when provoked, despite his lack of teeth and bad paw. These clearly didn't slow him down, as evident by the torn flesh on the Red Death.

Astrid parted from her group of friends and ran over to where Hiccup was standing. "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Are you okay?" she asked, practically hysterical, even though Hiccup obviously wasn't okay.

"Never better!" he said through gritted teeth and a very fake smile. All was quiet. Hiccup and Astrid continued to stare at each other for a long, intense moment until Hiccup broke the silence. "By the way, thank you for helping."

"What? Who? Me? I didn't do anything," the girl confessed.

"You didn't run away from the scene. Staying gave me confidence." In Hiccup's delirious, pain induced state, his sureness suddenly soared to a level beyond what it was when facing the Red Death. He decided to say something that he should have a long time ago. "Astrid… there's something I need to say. I…I r-really li…" the pain shooting from Hiccup's foot became so much. He could feel it consuming is whole body, eating away at his mind. Then, everything went black. Hiccup's body fell backwards, his head collided with the hard asphalt. Tears began to stream down Astrid's face. Toothless stopped attacking the Red Death when he realized what had just happened. The large black cat left the bloodied man and ran over to Hiccup's side. Toothless tried to nuzzle his best friend to awaken him. When he saw a line of blood coming from Hiccup's head, the cat let out a heart-wrenching meow and laid down beside him as Stoick dialed 9-1-1.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

Astrid had grasped Hiccup's hand and held on as tightly as she could the moment he hit the ground. Tears started to stream down her face. As the paramedics came and started to roll Hiccup away on the stretcher, Astrid felt her heart being crushed and yanked and pulled. Even after their hands had parted, she still felt as if was connected to Hiccup and an invisible string was slowly pulling at her insides as he grew further and further away. She had never felt pain like this before. No matter how loud she screamed or how hard she cried, she couldn't rid the awful feeling from her chest. What if he had a massive subdural hematoma and the surgeons weren't able to fix it? What if he lost too much blood before the paramedics arrived?

Finally, Astrid could no longer feel her legs. Everything in her body went completely numb, causing her to collapse onto the pavement in a heap of sobs. Toothless came over to her and nuzzled at her side. Stroking his soft black fur was just what she had needed. When she had finally collected herself enough to speak, she leaned over to Toothless and whispered in his ear. "You know, Toothless, there are so many things I wish I had said to Hiccup. I should have kissed him earlier today. I should have told him that I had feeling for him. Hell! I should have just said that I loved him!" That word, love, felt strange when it exited her lips, but the more she thought about it, the more right it felt. Astrid had had attractions to other guys before, but something about this one just felt different. Despite the fact that she had only been friends with Hiccup for a little bit, her attraction was intense- so intense that he had captured her thoughts and dreams. Every time she saw him and got to know him, she felt warmer and warmer inside.

And now, he was loaded into the back of an ambulance, being taken away from her, battered and bloodied, with a leg he couldn't put any weight on. At this thought, Astrid managed to pick herself off the ground, gather Toothless, and follow the ambulance. She would be there for him at the hospital when he woke up- if he woke up. She quickly brushed that last thought away, for fear that it was true. _He would wake up. He definitely would_ , she tried to convince herself as she put the key into the ignition. There was no possible way that he hit his head hard enough on the pavement to do real damage…right? The large cat in the passenger seat meowed, almost as if he was agreeing with Astrid's thoughts.

Astrid decided to drop Toothless off back at the Haddock's house, before heading to the hospital as she was pretty sure a large black puma would probably not be allowed in the waiting room. Much to Astrid's delight, she found the house unlocked. She said goodbye to Toothless and promised him that she would stop by later to check on him and give him any updates on his best friend's condition.

When Astrid arrived at the hospital, Stoick was already there. The girl saw the large man sitting by himself in the corner, obviously crying; this vulnerable position made him appear less massive than he usually was. Slowly, she walked over to him and sat down on the seat beside him. She didn't say anything. What could she say at this moment? All she could do was place her slender hand, the same hand which she had desperately held onto Hiccup's, on top of Stoick's larger one, making him smile ever so slightly.

Waiting at the hospital seemed like eternity. Neither Astrid nor Stoick could move from their seats. Finally, a few hours later, an older woman dressed in sea foam green scrubs appeared in the doorway. As short as the doctor was, her presence dominated the room in that very moment. "Mr. Haddock?" she announced softly while scanning the faces in the room. Without saying anything, Stoick got up from his chair and walked over to where the doctor was standing, disappearing with her through that same doorway.

Astrid wanted to follow, but knew better than to. Instead she stayed put, nervously playing with a stray string on her shirt and staring off into space. She happened to catch a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror. Her blue, warrior paint was severely smudged; however, she really couldn't care less about her appearance at the moment as she waited for Stoick to return. He seemed to take forever to come back. Seconds ticked away like hours. Finally, the large man returned with a very solemn look upon his face. Astrid's heart sunk even further than it already had. She feared the worst. Slowly, the mayor made his way back to the seat beside Astrid. When he had sat, he took a deep breath and placed a large hand on Astrid's slouched shoulder. "He's going to be okay, Astrid." This was the softest she had ever heard the mayor speak. "He's still unconscious now as he hit his head pretty hard." He paused. "Hiccup's really going to need people to be there for him when he wakes up. He…ugh…well they couldn't save it." A massive tear dripped down his face at these words and caught on his auburn beard. "It's..it's all my fault. I did this." Astrid didn't understand. She gave Stoick a look that was a mix of confusion and empathy. "When the bullet hit Hiccup's leg, it um, caused the bone to shatter into several pieces. The bone fragments somehow managed to sever the tibial arteries. The doctors did everything they could to try to restore blood flow, but the damage ended up being too extensive and they had to amputate his left foot."

The word _amputate_ struck Astrid like a bullet. Hiccup didn't have a left foot anymore. It was gone for good. How was he going to react to this? She wished this wasn't true. Not that she wouldn't like him anymore because of his lack of appendage, but because she desperately wished that he didn't have to go through this pain. Losing a limb is losing a part of yourself. At that moment, Astrid vowed that she would be there for him no matter what. All Astrid managed to mutter was, "he is okay, though, right?" Stoick nodded, shaking his massive head up and down in an exaggerated movement.

"Yes, Astrid."

"Can we… can we see him now?" the girl asked timidly.

"I'm afraid not. He's still in the ICU right now. Though I promise we will go see him as soon as the doctors allow." Now it was Astrid's turn to nod. In her mind, she went over what she was going to say to Hiccup when he woke up. Fantasizing was the only thing that kept Astrid's mind at ease while she waited.

Finally, the next day the doctors moved Hiccup out of the ICU and into his own room. Both Astrid and Stoick had barely moved from their perches in the waiting room since Hiccup was admitted, other than to do the necessities such as eat and use the bathroom. (It took a while, but Astrid did finally manage to wipe the remaining face paint off in the bathroom.) Both of them had spent the night, backs arched awkwardly against the hard, plastic cushion, desperately trying to catch a few precious moments of sleep that would take their minds away from gazing dejectedly at the drab, white walls which engulfed them. The same doctor who had initially updated Stoick on Hiccup's condition appeared in the doorway again. This time, she was the one who slowly make her way to Astrid and Stoick who were now standing erect and attentive. The doctor's arm extended out from her arched back and reached towards Stoick's massive hand. She then turned to Astrid and offered her hand as well in a friendly shake. "Are you Hiccup's sister?" she asked so softly that it was almost inaudible.

Astrid blushed instinctively, "no, I'm a um…friend."

"Oh okay. Well, it's very nice that Hiccup has such a great friend to support him in a time like this," she replied. While the doctor was old, her crystal blue eyes glimmered with a youthful spark. Astrid's eyes caught a laminated name badge, dangling from the pocket on the doctor's scrub top. It read "Dr. Gothi."

Dr. Gothi cleared her throat and addressed the pair standing in front of her. "They have moved Hiccup to his own room. You are welcome to see him if you would like." No sooner did these words leave the doctor's mouth than Stoick practically pushed her aside to go run and see Hiccup. Astrid could help but chuckle a little bit when the usually very sure and very confident Stoick suddenly realized that he had no idea where Hiccup's room was. He paused and looked around the room awkwardly.

"Ugh, um where did you say he was?" Dr. Gothi gestured at Stoick to follow her as she slowly but surely made her way across the waiting room. Astrid proceeded close behind them.

Actually arriving in the hospital room was a little overwhelming for Astrid at first. She stayed back away from the bed, almost as if the plethora of beeping machines would eat her alive. And she figured, it was probably good for Stoick to get a chance to talk to Hiccup first. It wasn't too long before Stoick's phone started to ring. His brief conversation was mostly just a few "yeses" and "uh huhs." "Astrid, I have to leave for a few moments. There are some things I need to take care of in regards to the events of yesterday. Call me if anything changes."

With that, the large man exited the room, finally leaving Hiccup and Astrid alone for the first time since he had arrived at the hospital. Astrid stared at Hiccup's motionless body, looking him up and down. He looked so peaceful and just so Hiccup. If she wasn't in the context of the hospital room with machines beeping all around him, she would have thought he was just snoozing soundly. His crazy hair was just as it always was, fanning out in all directions around his pillow. She couldn't help imagine what it would feel like to run her fingers through it or to nuzzle her neck against it. And his eyes. Even though they were closed, she could still seeing those brilliant emeralds looking at her with such kindness and brilliance. Her eyes continued to make their way down his figure, stopping just near the end of the bed. Where his left foot should have raised the sheets, there was nothing- just an empty space that made Astrid's stomach lurch.

Quickly, Astrid forced her eyes away from the end of the bed. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw something twitch. Staring at his hand, dangling ever so slightly over the side of the sterile, white hospital bed, she willed it to move again. Carefully, she took his hand and placed it in hers, weaving his fingers between her own. Something about his hand in hers just felt right- like their hands had been made for each other.

Being alone in the room with Hiccup, it would have been so easy to just lean over and kiss him right then and there. But this time, it wasn't the gods that prevented Astrid from kissing him- it was her own mind. She didn't kiss him because she wanted their first kiss to be something that they both experienced consciously.

Instead, Astrid leaned over, looking at their intertwined hands and whispered softly, "Hiccup, I don't know if you can hear me or not…I have no idea how the unconscious brain works…but I feel I need to say this anyways." She took a deep breath and squeezed his hand tighter. "I love you, Hiccup. I've never felt this way about another person before. I know we haven't been friends for that long and it is probably way too soon to say that word, but I do. I do and I don't know any other way to describe these feeling I have. If I didn't love you, then I wouldn't feel like my heart is being crushed as you lie there motionless and hooked up to more wires than blood vessels in your body. If I didn't love you, I would be getting all mushy, gushy here. That's really not like me at all! I'm a Hofferson. Hoffersons are tough and they are warriors. They don't get bogged down my emotions…but here I am…full of emotion." She looked up into his face, his smooth pink lips catching her line of sight, making her sigh. "Hiccup…I should have just kissed you when I had the chance. I should have just done it. A stupid kiss on the cheek! What's wrong with me! Again…Hoffersons are brave. What was so scary about just giving you a proper kiss!"

At that moment, Hiccup's hand twitched within hers, unconsciously tightening their grip even further. It was almost as if he could hear Astrid and was concurring with her confession. At least that's what Astrid wanted to believe. "Please just wake up, Hiccup! Please!"


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

Hiccup lay motionless in his hospital bed. The only sounds in the room came from the unremitting beeping of his vital sign monitor. Hiccup's physical state was deceptive as his mind was as active as ever. The story of how he and Toothless first met drifted across his vast sea of thoughts.

*3 years earlier*

Freshman year of high school is a scary time for anyone. It's an especially scary time when you are different from the rest of the boys your age and have no idea where you fit in. That was Hiccup- lonely, nerdy, and the social outcast of Berk High School. Fishlegs was Hiccup's only friend. He was a bit of a social outcast too, as he was more preoccupied with science facts and statistics than he was with sports and girls like all the other boys their age. This mutual nerdiness had drawn them together when they first met way back in elementary school. Even though Fishlegs was extremely smart and nerdy like Hiccup was, Hiccup still never truly felt that he could relate to him on a deeper level.

The summer prior to freshman year, there had been some mysterious sightings of a large, black catlike animal that was roaming the park around Berk High School. It was unclear whether the cat was a mountain lion, a wolf, or some other species, as it was only spotted at nighttime and from a distance. Despite the widespread uncertainty in the type of animal that was roaming, the people of Berk County knew for sure that this predator posed an imminent threat to the safety of the town. Citizens no longer took their dogs for evening walks or allowed their children to play in the playground in the park as they feared that the mysterious black animal would show up.

After receiving numerous complaints from his people, Stoick had called a meeting, promising that he would get rid of this cryptic cat immediately. Consequently, he summoned animal control, law enforcement officers, and other able-bodied men to hunt the beast in order to protect the county.

Hiccup lay awake in bed at night, imagining himself as the one to find the cat and kill him. Oh how his father would be so proud of him for once in his life. If only Stoick would finally allow Hiccup to join the rest of the men of Berk County in their searches at dusk. Every time Hiccup asked if he could help, the situation would go much the same. His father would look at him with pure amusement and laugh with that deep, menacing roar that was enough to haunt Hiccup's dreams. "Please, the guns that we are using weigh more than you. It's very dangerous out there. If we were to find the beast and it started to run after us, you would be the last to escape because you're, er, not very, er, athletic," Stoick told him.

"Okay, dad. I agree. I may not be big enough to be able to shoot a riffle without being thrown backwards twenty yards, but this" he said as he pulled a large contraption out from the other side of his bed, "this will shoot it for me! All you have to do is…"

"Enough!" Stoick boomed. "Can't you see that you just can't come out there with us? Since your mother died, it's been my duty to protect you. Please, just listen to me and don't do anything stupid."

Hiccup sighed, "yes, dad."

This conversation would constantly reverberate through Hiccup's head as he tried to fall asleep. Not tonight. Tonight would be the night when he would finally shut up the disappointed voice of his father that lived deep within his mind. Hiccup had spent weeks planning out the details that would be involved in killing the beast that was threatening Berk County. How good it would feel to be the one to kill it and save the town from worry. He would finally be a hero. People might start to notice him. Hell, he might even get a girlfriend!

It had taken Hiccup several tries to perfect his automatic shooter. Granted, there were still some minor calibration issues, but it was most likely the best it was going to be. Hiccup lugged the contraption down from the safety of his bedroom and dragged it across their massive living room. Thankfully, Stoick was a very deep sleeper so he didn't hear the terrible noises coming from his son as he cumbersomely moved his contraption. Because Hiccup was not yet fifteen at the time, he was unable to drive. That made the whole plan that much more difficult. But luckily Hiccup was cleverer than most boys so he did not let his age get in the way of transportation. He attached a wagon to the back of his bike, loaded the shooter into the wagon, and pedaled laboriously to the park.

The park had an eerie feel to it. To Hiccup, it almost seemed like a scene taken directly out of a horror film. He did not have a good feeling about the night, but he had come too far to back out now. Heroes didn't get scared. They ate their fears and relished in the feeling of adrenaline coursing through their veins! Despite the fact that Hiccup kept telling himself this, his heart felt like it would erupt from the front of his chest at any moment.

The creaking of the wagon as Hiccup unloaded his contraption made an awful noise that would have sent Lucifer himself running away. As Hiccup sat crouched, behind his weapon, he couldn't help but wonder what he had gotten himself into. The chances of him actually spotting the mysterious animal were very slim. And the chances of Hiccup actually killing it? Oh next to zero! But still, even with this in the back of Hiccup's mind, he waited.

He could feel the damp earth beneath his knees soaking up into his pajama pant legs. A few lightening bugs buzzed by, momentary sparkling in the night sky, like mini stars. All of the sudden, Hiccup heard rustling through the trees. He unconsciously held his breath and forced his body to become as still as it could possibly be; Hiccup's thumping heart made this task especially difficult. Briefly, the boy spotted something black dark across his field of vision. It was far too dark to be certain of what it was, but he didn't have much time for contemplation. His finger released the trigger on his weapon, sending a shot whirling towards the forest. The sound echoed across the summer air, followed by an awful yelp.

Hiccup didn't have too much time to relish in his victory before he felt a pair of large hands clasp his shoulders. He spun around to see an all too familiar outline of a large man. "D-d-dad…w-what are you doing here?" Hiccup stuttered.

"The real question is what are _you_ doing here. I swear I can't take my eyes off you for more than two seconds without you getting into some type of trouble."

"H-how did you know where I was?"

"You have been so obsessed with killing this stupid animal that I knew exactly where you snuck off too. When I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, I heard you leave via the garage. It took me a few minutes to fully process your absence in my sleep-induced state."

"I did hit it dad! I swear. I heard it go down just towards the east end of the woods." Stoick rolled his eyes at his son in a disbelieving manner. "Not like the last few times, dad. I mean I really hit it!"

"STOP!" he thundered. "Just stop. It's dangerous to be out here alone. I really don't understand why you are so obsessed with this. Why can't you just follow the simplest of orders and leave the search to bigger and more experienced men." Hiccup's whole body felt like it had been hit by a sledge hammer at these words. He really did hit it. His father never listened to him- ever! Or when he did, it was with this disappointed scowl like someone skimped on his lunchmeat. He wished more than anything that he could make his father proud. They were nothing alike, yet they shared the same DNA. That had to mean something!

Hiccup awakened early the next morning, granted he had hardly slept following the events of the previous night. He made sure to be especially quiet when exiting the house in order to alleviate any possibility that he might awaken his father. (Hopefully he didn't have to pee at that exact moment again!) He carefully snuck into the garage and dragged out his bike once again from where his father had haphazardly thrown it on its side. Pedaling as quickly as his skinny legs would allow, Hiccup reached the park in no time. (It was definitely a whole heck of the lot easier to pedal when a giant contraption wasn't attached to the back of your bike.) The sun was just beginning to creep up from the horizon, illuminating the lush woods with a warm, orange glow. The beautiful warm weather of the early morning signaled hope and promise to Hiccup as he began the search.

Taking out a rudimentary map of the park, Hiccup marked where he was entering the woods. He would use the map to mark off the places where he had already searched for the cat that he had shot the night before. Slowly, the boy weaved his way in and out of the trees. The dense canopy of summer leaves made it a little more difficult to see, but this definitely did not deter Hiccup.

After what seemed like hours of searching the forest, Hiccup was becoming very aggravated. By now, he had searched the whole forest that was on his map and the sun was getting higher in the sky. Stoick would be awakening soon, so Hiccup thought it was best to give up and head home. "I really thought I hit it!" he groaned as he trudged back to where he had entered the woodland. "Some people lose their homework or their phone…no not me I manage to lose an entire mountain lion!" he yelled as he slapped a low hanging branch in front of him. Unfortunately for the boy, the branch swung back and hit him square in the face with tremendous velocity. "Ow!" he yelped. While Hiccup was rubbing his injured face, he saw something out of the corner of his left eye. He couldn't be sure what it was, but it looked like a large black pile of something.

Carefully, Hiccup approached the black mass, unsure of what he would find. He drew out a hunting knife from its protective casing, which he may or may not have stolen from his father many years ago, and held it in front of him. He tried to appear brave, but his arms were trembling, making the knife bounce up and down in a clumsy fashion. When Hiccup finally saw what the black object was, he felt his breath leave his body like he had been punched in the gut. There, only feet from Hiccup, lay a large black puma. "Oh, wow…I-I did it! Oh, I did it! This, this fixes everything! Everyone is going to love me!" Hiccup cheered enthusiastically. The boy carefully placed his shoe on the back of the large, black cat like he had seen hunters in movies do with their kill. Unfortunately, at the mere contact, the puma growled menacingly and shifted slightly under Hiccup's weight. This frightened the boy for a moment, and caused him to reel backwards, a good distance away from the cat.

 _Oh man! He's not dead!_ Hiccup thought _. I will have to kill it. Right here, right now. That is the only way_ , he finally decided after a moment of contemplation. _Otherwise, no one will believe that it was me that saved Berk County from this beast._ It took Hiccup a few more moments to come fully back to his senses, but when he did, he walked over to where the cat lay. He could see that he was injured as a pool of blood circled around the cat's back, left paw. The animal must have tried to get away, but the pain and blood became too much for it.

Hiccup took a deep breath and drew his hunting knife over his head. All he would have to do was drive it straight into the cat's chest and puncture his heart. There was no way that the cat could hurt him because he was clearly suffering from immense blood loss. Hiccup willed his arms to come down upon the cat, but they would not move. He stood frozen. Suddenly, the cat opened his eyes, revealing two brilliant emeralds that shown with intelligence. Hiccup looked into the eyes and realized that they matched his own green ones. From this moment, the boy no longer saw menace or fierceness in the cat. Instead, it looked just as frightened as Hiccup was with his knife shaking in his hands. Something else about the puma reminded Hiccup of himself, he just couldn't place his finger on it.

The young Haddock boy brought his knife down, but instead of plunging in within the black fur of the downed cat, he held it against the bottom of his shirt and cut away a piece of fabric. He then took the freed green piece of cotton and tied it around the paw of the cat in order to prevent any further bleeding. When Hiccup finally finished tying the knot to secure the fabric, he felt a large, furry paw contact his sternum, sending him flying back onto his rear. The cat attempted to get up onto three paws, but he was still too weak. Rather, the puma let out his most frightening roar and flopped back down to the forest floor.

Hiccup could feel his heart pounding within his head. He had just witnessed his life flash before his eyes and needed to desperately get out of the woods before the puma gained strength and could attack. Picking himself up, Hiccup's legs didn't feel right- his bones appeared to have turned into noodles. The next thing the boy knew, everything went black and he fell face first on the damp, leaf covered ground.

The next day, Hiccup ventured back to the woods when his father was busy with work. He brought along with him his journal and pencil, which had practically become additional appendages over the years. Being the extremely observant and innovative teenage boy that he was, Hiccup liked having something to jot down ideas or remarks whenever they surfaced in his mind. As he neared the area where he had seen the black puma the day before, he spotted a large rock, perfect for sitting. The boy climbed atop the stony structure and took out his notebook. Hiccup really didn't know why his legs decided to walk themselves into the woods. There really was no logical reason for it at all. Although, that little, tiny part in the back of his young mind was there, convincing him that maybe, just maybe, the black puma that he shot would still be there.

The longer Hiccup sat on the rock doodling random designs and contraptions, the more he was convinced that the little voice in the back on his head was wrong. What reason would the large cat have to stay in the same spot in the woods? And the odds that he had somehow wandered back there? Oh they were very small.

Suddenly, Hiccup heard something coming from a bush in front of him. His heart began to beat a little faster in anticipation of what could be making the racket. Finally, something black and furry clumsily emerged from the bush. Could it be? Yes it definitely was. The large black cat limped heavily as it moved, struggling to walk as it favored its back, left leg.

Hiccup crouched as low as he could on the rock so the cat would not see him. Despite the fact that it was injured, Hiccup was still pretty certain that it could inflict some serious damage if it felt threatened as its mouth was definitely not injured. So instead, Hiccup decided not to risk it and instead draw the cat, now sitting down on the forest floor cleaning himself. However, Hiccup, being Hiccup, was not very good at blending into the background, unnoticed. He always seemed to find a way to do something stupid or clumsy that got himself exposed in the worst way possible. That is just what happened in that particular instance. Somehow, while drawing the black cat, he accidently lost grip of his pencil, causing it to first fall onto the rock and then onto the forest floor. Hiccup's breath caught in his throat and a wave of fear crept up and settled in the boy's chest. He willed his body to sink infinitely further into the rock and hoped the cat did not notice. Unfortunately, with its extremely sharp senses, the black puma did in fact hear the pencil collide with the Earth. It immediately glanced first at the fallen object and then at Hiccup, still perched on the rock, cowering in fear. Hiccup did the first thing that came to his mind- granted it might not have been the smartest. He smiled and waved at the cat. Thankfully, the gods were finally on the young boy's side that day and the cat only gave a look and went back to his own business of cleaning himself.

Several days went by. Hiccup still couldn't get the image of the black cat out of his head. He was there when Hiccup awoke in the morning. He was there when Hiccup went about his daily tasks. And he was there when Hiccup went to bed at night. Piercing green eyes outlined by smooth black fur. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop thinking about him and wondering why he was still in the same place in the forest. Finally, it dawned on Hiccup that because of the injury to the puma's paw, he would have a hard time hunting. This gave Hiccup an idea.

Looking in the pantry (which was always stock full of food thanks to a very large and very hungry man who lived in the house) Hiccup found several cans of tuna, long forgotten about, hanging out in the back. He transferred the tuna into a plastic container and rode his bike back to the forest that held many secrets. At first when Hiccup arrived at the forest, he saw no signs of the cat. _Maybe he finally left_ , Hiccup thought to himself. However, just as Hiccup was about to turn around and go back home, a large, black figure appeared from behind the very rock on which Hiccup sat just a few days earlier. The cat smelled the tuna. Stealthily, he crouched down and approached the boy, ever so slightly, stopping a few yards from him. "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you," Hiccup whispered. The boy made a big show of patting down his body, proving to the cat that he did not have a weapon on him.

Finally, the black puma gained confidence, moving forward and sat, much like a dog begging silently for dinner. At this cue, Hiccup popped open the plastic container and set it down in front of the cat. He opened his mouth widely and delved in. Within seconds it was gone. When the cat had opened his mouth, Hiccup couldn't help but notice the particularly pink gums that the cat possessed with no teeth to be seen. _Hmm, Toothless_ , Hiccup thought. When the cat finally finished his meal he drew himself closer and closer to the boy, as if looking for more. "Ugh, ah, no, no. No, I, I don't have any more." But instead of attacking Hiccup, the cat did something unexpected. He sat, mere feet from Hiccup and contorted his face in a way that could only be described as a smile. The boy reached his hand towards the furry black head in front of him, wanted to establish a physical bond between them. Just before Hiccup's hand made contact, the cat slipped away clumsily into the dense foliage.

For several days following, Hiccup would find himself once again perched on the rock in the woods, notebook in hand. And each day that Hiccup sat, the cat was there. Hiccup observed his every movement. Even with his injured paw, he still looked so majestic and graceful as he roamed around the forest. Hiccup had begun to call the cat "Toothless" as its lack of teeth was a very interesting and distinct characteristic of this particular cat. The name stuck.

Finally, after visiting the same spot in the forest for many days in a row, casually blending into the background, the cat approached Hiccup. As the boy climbed down from the rock, Toothless meowed playfully. His big green eyes shown with affection and friendliness. Hiccup crept forward, one step at a time, careful not to make any sudden movements. Face to face they stood. Green eyes looking into green eyes. Slowly, Hiccup reached his hand out towards Toothless' head and closed his eyes. After a brief moment, Hiccup felt a firm softness pressed against his outstretched hand.

Even though Toothless was only a puma, Hiccup still felt more connected to him than he had with any other person in his life. It was strange, Hiccup really couldn't place his finger on why, but he believed it had something to do with the alikeness of their situations- both didn't really fit into their respective environments. But from that tender moment in the forest where Toothless pressed his head upon Hiccup's outstretched hand, they were destined to be friends.

Hiccup's body was beginning to awaken. The first thing Hiccup felt was something warm and heavy in his right hand. It was strange yet very pleasant at the same time. He opened one eye and then the other. The room in front of him was stark white. Where was he? He darted his eyes across the room, trying to process his surroundings. As the warmth in his hand intensified, he looked to where it was coming from. There, sitting next to him, her hand in his, was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. He looked up and met her gaze, capturing two brilliant sapphires. Astrid.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

Sounds of birds could be heard chirping from outside the hospital window as a warm glow of morning light seeped through and illuminated the stark white room, consequently lighting up the face of a sleeping boy and a sleeping girl. Astrid blinked a few times as she tried to awaken her sleep-filled mind and stretched her limbs. Multiple pops and cracks could be heard coming from various joints as she had been uncomfortably perched in a chair by Hiccup's bed for the entire night. Astrid had hoped that there would be at least a little change in Hiccup's condition during the night; however, her heart fell slightly when she glanced at his sleeping body, still in the exact same position from the night before.

Large footsteps echoed down the hospital hallway and could be heard nearing the room. Astrid spun around to see a large man haphazardly holding two large plates of hospital food and a cup of coffee between his teeth. Thinking Stoick had been nice enough to get the second plate of food for her, Astrid politely stated that she wasn't too hungry yet. Stoick looked awkwardly around the room and then down at the two plates of food.

"Ugh, um, I didn't exactly get this for you. I um get a little hungry sometimes, especially when I'm stressed out," Stoick admitted. "And besides, I need to go back to work today since I missed the majority of yesterday so I need my energy."

"But it's a Sunday," Astrid pointed out. "I didn't think you would have to do anything today?"

"There's no day off when it comes to serving your people. Just promise me too call if anything changes with Hiccup. Okay?"

Astrid nodded, "yes sir! I definitely will."

"Atta girl!" the large man smiled, patting Astrid firmly on the back with the hand that was not holding one of the two massive plates of food.

While Stoick was finishing off his breakfast, Astrid left the hospital briefly to get her homework to bring back to the hospital. After all, it was Sunday and it would give her something to do other than wait for Hiccup to wake up. The good thing about Berk County being so small was that it took practically no time to get from one end to the other, allowing Astrid to be back in minutes. In fact, Stoick was just finishing off his cup of coffee when she returned.

As soon as Stoick left the premises to go to work, Astrid flipped open her chemistry textbook. They had a test the following week and Astrid felt nowhere near prepared for it. Of course Hiccup would be prepared for it, hell he could probably take it in his sleep! Looking at his sleeping body in the hospital bed, Astrid immediately regretted that thought. He was going to be up by the test…right.

Studying chemistry was slow and painful for Astrid, but it wasn't as slow and painful as waiting for Hiccup to wake up. Sometimes, Astrid would read a chemistry problem out loud, half hoping that Hiccup would suddenly jump in with the answer. Of course, he was still sound asleep so he couldn't. Through all this, Astrid couldn't help but think of the double meaning of having chemistry with Hiccup. Not only did they have actual chemistry class together and were lab partners, but they also had something going on between them…or at least Astrid really, really hoped. She replayed their interactions over and over in her head: when he changed her flat tire, when they studied together at his house, and the Dragon Race. She was almost positive, or at least did a really good job of convincing herself so, that they had this chemistry between them. Just the way he smiled and looked at her and laughed. It all pointed to a deeper connection that just friends…right?

Once again, staring at the sleeping boy in front of her, Astrid desperately wanted to know if Hiccup felt the same way about her and she did about him. No matter what, she would tell him exactly how she felt as soon as she woke up…well after giving him some time to process his new lack of appendage. She didn't want to throw too much on his mind at once, but she also promised herself that she would confess her feelings mostly because she really didn't know how much longer she could keep them in without completely exploding.

The day wore on extremely slowly. Nurses came in to check on Hiccup. Astrid did chemistry problems. Stoick called to see how things were going. More nurses came in. And Hiccup slept. Just as Astrid was about to get up to get some dinner from the hospital cafeteria, she noticed ruffling from under the white sheets in Hiccup's bed. It was slight, but it was definitely there. Astrid held her breath, willing the movement to happen again. Sure enough, more small shifts arose from the sheets. Astrid was no longer hungry. Her heart was racing with excitement. _He's waking up! He's waking up!_ Her mind cheered.

It took a good amount of time for Hiccup to completely wake up. All the while, Astrid sat patiently by his bed, hand intertwined in his. Finally, one brilliant green eye opened, immediately followed by the other. They blinked a few times but finally remained open. She watched as his eyes darted across room, taking in his surrounding and finally fixating on her. Having his emerald eyes upon her sent a wave of happiness and adrenaline coursing throughout Astrid's body. She squeezed his hand tighter smiled.

Hiccup cleared his throat, obviously dry from being asleep for so long. "I'm in a hospital?" Astrid nodded. "You're in a hospital?"

Astrid nodded once again, "well, I'm in the hospital for you."

"I knew it…I'm dead."

"No, but you gave it your best shot," Astrid chuckled. Hiccup started to shift around in the hospital bed to get himself into a more comfortable position. He suddenly stopped and the expression on his face turned into one of pure fear. He had just noticed his leg, or in that case, lack of leg. He placed his empty hand on the top of the sheet and looked over at Astrid for reassurance before he lifted it up to reveal what was underneath.

"H-how did this happen?" Hiccup asked despondently.

"What's the last thing that you remember?"

"Talking to you."

"Well, shortly after that you passed out from shock and hit your head hard on the pavement." Astrid explained the rest about the extent of the damage form the gunshot and how the doctors did everything they could to save his leg. "Hiccup, I am so, so sorry about all this. I-I just want you to know that I am here for you and will continue to be here for you throughout this whole process. I promise."

"Thanks Astrid, that really means a lot to me." He paused, "I'm really glad you're here with me now."

"Me too." There was a long silence that filled the room. It wasn't awkward or comfortable by any means. Astrid looked at Hiccup and Hiccup looked at Astrid. Before long, Astrid realized that it wasn't just silence in the room anymore. There was something much deeper and much more powerful. She took a deep breath.

"Hiccup, there's something else I need to tell you." He looked at her with such intensity that she could almost feel his eyes upon her soul. "I-I know you are dealing with and coming to terms with a lot of change right now, but I feel this is something I really want you to know." Another silence was followed by another massive intake of air on Astrid's part. "Hiccup, I love you." Before he could say anything, she continued on. "I-I know that's a pretty big and profound thing for someone to say, especially to a person she has only really known for a little bit. B-but I j-just feel this incredible happiness and joy whenever I am around you. I'm sorry if this creeps you out or something, but I just couldn't let it be without telling after the events of this weekend and almost losing you." Astrid tried to read Hiccup's face to figure out what he was thinking, but all she would see was a pair of green eyes staring aloofly into hers. Figuring that this meant that he didn't feel the same way, she quickly muttered "I'm sorry" before looking down at the floor.

"R-really?" Hiccup muttered. Astrid picked her gaze up from the floor and caught his eyes once again. There was now a distinct spark in them. Astrid nodded slowly.

"Yes, Hiccup, I do."

The biggest, cutest smile spread across Hiccup's face, "I l-love you too, Astrid." Now it was Astrid turn to be shocked.

"Really? You're not just saying that word because I did?"

"No, no! Of course not. I mean it. I mean it with my whole heart. I have loved you for the longest time. When you kissed my cheek at 2:00 am after I changed you flat tire and when we did the lab report at my house I knew I loved you. Now it was Astrid's turn to smile brightly.

The moment was so perfect as raw sentiment filled the air. Astrid leaned over and pressed her lips against Hiccup's. Instantly, a wave a warmth spread throughout her whole body, which could only be described as pure happiness. While it was cliché to think, Astrid felt fireworks exploding from her lips upon contact. Without a doubt, this was the best feeling she had ever experienced. She never wanted their lips to part. As if Hiccup could read her mind, he placed a gentle hand on her back, and with ever so slight pressure, he drew her in closer. That simple yet perfect gesture shot a second wave of elation coursing through her body like a chemical reaction. The perfect harmony of their first kiss ended only due to a lack of air with both parties. Stupid breathing!

As Astrid replenished the oxygen that was drawn out of her body by the most amazing guy she had ever encountered, she couldn't help the extremely goofy yet sincere smile that crept across her face. Secretly, she prayed that Hiccup experienced the same magic as she did. What if he realized that he didn't have feelings for her after all? Now that Astrid had tasted his lips, she didn't know if she could bear never kissing him again. Thankfully, her worries were mitigated by a grin, equally as wide and equally as goofy as hers that stretched across Hiccup's handsome face.

"I could definitely get used to that! That was amazing!" he gushed. Astrid was so overcome with relief and a flood of passion that all she could do was nod her head in agreement. She started into his forest green eyes, completely entranced. With all the pure joy that coursed through Astrid's veins, it was easy to forget that they were in the hospital room.

"It was indeed," Astrid iterated when she finally came back to her senses. The pair stared at each other in silence for a few more moments, relishing the emotions from their first kiss.

Finally Hiccup broke away from her gaze. "S-so does this mean we are like together now?" he asked inelegantly.

Just his dorkiness and the way he nervously ran his fingers through his hair made Astrid laugh. "Is that your way of asking me out?"

"Um, I guess so?"

"Good, it better be because if you didn't do it first, then I would have to!" Another hush enveloped the room.

"Hiccup, can I ask you something?"

"I thought I just asked you out!"

The girl chucked, "no, silly, something else."

"Of course, anything!"

She gulped, "have you, like, you know, ever been in a relationship before?"

"Oh yeah, you know, my textbooks and I, we had been going study for a while…years even. But luckily, I have decided that I like you a lot more than my books!"

"Well then! Don't I just feel so special! Beating out several pages of bounded paper that are covered in boring words, now that's an accomplishment," Astrid laughed. "Only you would say that! And for what it's worth, I like you a lot more than textbooks too! You probably have a lot more knowledge than many of them, anyways!"

"I wish! How about you, Astrid?"

"Oh you know, as much as I _love_ my textbooks, I prefer to have a healthy relationship with by bae, food!"

"So you have never actually dated anyone either?" Astrid shook her head slowly. Hiccup continued, "you are the prettiest, nicest, smartest, and most perfect girl I have ever encountered or even dreamed of! I would have expected you to have all the guys."

"Well to be honest, I've never really been one for relationships. Sure I've had a few crushes here and there, but what girl hasn't? Anyways, I've been way too focused on school and running and clubs and other important stuff. I never wanted a boyfriend that would distract me from being the best. That is…until I met you." At this, Hiccup smiled and leaned his head in towards Astrid, capturing her lips once again.

Only after the kiss ended did Astrid suddenly remember something. She looked at Hiccup in panic. "Oops, I completely forgot I was supposed to call your dad as soon as you woke up."

"Ah that's okay. I think kissing you definitely beats the old 'son, we need to talk,'" Hiccup imitated in his best Stoick-voice.

"Not now dad, I'm a little busy making out with my girlfriend," Astrid tried to mimic Hiccup's vocal inflections and body movements.

Hiccup laughed, "okay, first of all, I don't sound like that. And second…what is that thing you're doing with my shoulders?" The girl chuckled too.

"Well, don't you think he would like to know that his son is alive?"

"Yeah, probably…but I'm not going anywhere for a while so he'll find out eventually."

Astrid smiled and shrugged, "I do suppose that's true."

"Might as well make good use of the time that he's not here," Hiccup said as he scooted over on the bed and patted the empty space next to him. Astrid climbed in the tiny hospital bed, pressing her small body against Hiccup's. He lifted his arm and placed it around her shoulder. The girl snuggled in closer to Hiccup and rested her head on his chest. Hiccup softly kissed her forehead and rested his head on top of hers. She felt absolutely amazing being so close to Hiccup. The warmth from Hiccup's body radiated onto Astrid's and burrowed within her core. She definitely couldn't think of any place she would rather be than in Hiccup's arms.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

Hiccup was a little nervous. It had been a while since he had set foot in Berk High School. He would have a lot of work to make up and not to mention the fact that he now had to struggle to get along on crutches until his leg healed enough to get fitted into a prosthetic. Astrid had offered to give Hiccup a ride to school on his first day back. He was still perfectly able to drive because it was his left foot that he lost, but Astrid had insisted she take him so she could help him in the door. After all, Hiccup was a total klutz on two feet, much less one foot and a pair of crutches! They really didn't want a repeat of the parking lot incident from the actual first day of school.

Hiccup had concluded that the worst thing about being on crutches at the moment wasn't his lack of balance, but it was the fact that he couldn't hold Astrid's hand as they walked into school together. He really wanted to show her off and proclaim to the whole school that they were dating. It was silly, but Hiccup was really bummed that he couldn't do that. Either way, Astrid would be right by his side with both his and her backpack slung over one of her bony shoulders.

As soon as the pair arrived in the building, they were immediately swarmed by a mass of students fawning over Hiccup's bravery at the Dragon race. The news had even reached the people who weren't actually at the race. The stories of how Hiccup single handedly stopped a massive gunman spread like wildfire. Everyone wanted to know how he did it and how he felt with his lack of leg.

Pushing their way to their lockers, Hiccup and Astrid were stopped by another man with only one leg, eating a rotisserie chicken in the middle of the hallway. "Aye lad! I see ye can barely walk through the calls without being swarmed by yer new fans!" Gobber expressed, waving part of the chicken in the air.

"Something like that. I can definitely concur with the barely can walk part," Hiccup muttered unamused.

Gobber leaned in towards Hiccup and whispered in his ear, "and I see ye even got the lady now too! Atta lad!" Hiccup blushed and looked over at Astrid, standing only a few inches from him. "I gotta go to 'at coaches meetin'. Hope ye stay otta trouble on yer first day back!" He turned to Astrid, "and see you at practice later today. Hiccup, I expect you'll be there too crutchin' round the track faster than e'ryone! Hahaha!" Gobber turned away, still crackling at his own joke.

Scott appeared at Hiccup's locker with a smug look on his face. _Ugh oh_ , Hiccup thought, _he's going to make some comment about how he would have taken down the gunman better than me and without losing a leg_. Much to Hiccup's surprise, Scott turned towards Hiccup and gave him a somewhat forced smiled. "Man, that was pretty brave what you did at that race. Good job, dude."

"Thanks, Scott. That really means a lot." Scott lifted up his hand to give Hiccup a high five. When Hiccup reciprocated the movement, he suddenly got off balanced on his crutches and felt himself start to tip to one side. "Oh man!" he muttered as he began to sway towards the ground. Thankfully, Astrid was right there beside him to catch him and help him regain his balance. "Thanks," he gushed as he turned towards Astrid and caught her ocean blue eyes.

"No problem! I guess that's why you need to establish "common ground" in a relationship!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Scott interrupted and looked Astrid dead in the face. "You're now dating Hiccup? Scoff! I can't believe it! You turned down me to date this twig! What happened to being too busy with school! If there's anyone you can make time for it should be me!"

"Scott, Hiccup is the most amazing, caring, funniest guy I have ever met. All you ever wanted to do was get in my pants!"

"That's not true! Well…not _entirely_ true."

"Okay then," she muttered under her breath as she helped Hiccup get his books for the day.

The day couldn't go by fast enough for Hiccup. All he wanted to do was get to chemistry- the one class (other than homeroom) that he had with Astrid. But that also meant that he would have to deal with Ms. Lyser to discuss all the labs that he missed; that was definitely not going to be fun at all. But seeing Astrid would make it all worth it.

When chemistry class finally did arrive, Hiccup clumsily crutched to his desk. If there was any phrase to describe Hiccup on crutches, it would be a fawn first learning to walk. But even that description may have given Hiccup too much credit. When the one-legged boy finally reached his seat in the back of the room, his crutches dropped noisily to his side. He had really meant for them to descend to the linoleum floor as inaudibly as possible, but they somehow managed to slip out of his hands in the process. This caused the whole class to turn and stare directly at the boy, now a brilliant shade of crimson. But instead of the annoyed looks usually given by his classmates, they all smiled in unison.

"Hiccup! You're back!" shouted a girl from the front of the room.

"Welcome back man, class felt weird without you" another boy shouted. While Hiccup felt absolutely ecstatic that his classmates were acknowledging his presence in a positive manner, he couldn't help but being completely overtaken by one particular smile that was much brighter and much wider than any of the other students'. Astrid's brilliant sapphire eyes shown with such happiness that no words were needed to make Hiccup understand how happy she was to have him back. For a moment, as Hiccup met her gaze, it felt like they were the only two people in the room. Unfortunately, that moment was broken by an unpleasant, raspy voice.

"Settle down, settle down. I know everyone is happy to see Hiccup but we have a lot of work to cover before you test on Thursday," Ms. Lyser announced.

"It's great to see you too, Ms. Lyser," Hiccup muttered under his breath.

Ms. Lyser continued, "And Hiccup, I need to see you after class to discuss all the classes and labs you missed."

"Oh great, there's my welcome back!" Hiccup muttered again. As the teacher continued talking about whatever information she thought was important that day, Astrid turned around in her desk and mouthed to Hiccup.

"I'll wait for you after class."

"Thanks, Astrid. You might want grab a broom to clean up my remnants after Lyser rips me apart for missing class," he whispered back.

"I think a mop will work better."

"Astrid? Hiccup? Are you having a discussion on equilibrium? I assume you are because that's the only excuse to be talking in class," Ms. Lyser snapped. Both Hiccup and Astrid turned quite red as they slumped down in their seats. Hiccup redirected his attention towards the clock, watching the second hand slowly tick from twelve to twelve and around again. Class was going by so slowly. He forgot that having a class with Astrid didn't necessarily mean that they would get a chance to talk.

When the bell rang, Astrid jumped up to help Hiccup out of his desk as he was still mastering that whole one-legged thing. Frankly, half the time Hiccup would forget about his lack of appendage and go to put his left foot down to get up. That usually didn't end well. As the boy crutched over to Ms. Lyser's desk, Astrid promised that she would wait outside for him. "Good luck," she whispered, gently laying a hand on his shoulder as she walked by.

Ms. Lyser had terrible RBF (resting bitch face.) She never looked happy; therefore, it was extremely hard to read what she was thinking. "Welcome back Hiccup," she began. "As you know, you missed two labs while you were gone. I think it is important for your grade to make them up as it wouldn't be fair if you exempted them…"

 _And it's not fair that I lost a leg either_ , Hiccup thought bitterly. Ms. Lyser continued to grumble about the importance of each lab and yada yada. Hiccup was half listening when she suggested that he stay after school a few days to make up the labs. It wasn't a big deal to Hiccup as he could probably do most of the labs with his eyes closed. However, it was all just a big pain in the butt because the later he was a school, the later he got to the computer shop with Gobber, and the later he would get to see Astrid after.

"How did it go?" Astrid asked wide-eyed when Hiccup finally exited the chemistry room.

"Eh, I'm still alive so that's a plus. I pretty much just have to make up the labs after school and do all the homework I missed, but other than that it's all good. Well… other than the fact that I'll have to do the labs without you as my partner."

"Are you kidding me, I just take up space in lab. You don't need me! You are beyond good at chemistry."

"I don't know about that, but I do know that I love having you as my lab partner to keep me sane while Lyser's beady eyes are watching my every move!"

Astrid joked, "One-on-one lab with Ms. Lyser! What can get better than that!"

"Getting teeth pulled, watching grass grow, losing a leg. You know, all that fun stuff would definitely be better than lab with just Ms. Lyser!"

"Maybe I can see if I can stay and assist you because it's not fair that you have to do it alone. When you were gone, I joined another group so I didn't have to do the experiments by myself."

"You don't have to do that, Astrid," Hiccup voiced. "I wouldn't want you to have to go to lab when you don't need to."

"Hiccup, I really wouldn't mind. If it meant helping you and distracting you from Lyser's death glare, I would happily do it."

"Thanks, Astrid. You are amazing." The couple walked off to the locker rooms so Astrid could change into her running clothes.

Because Astrid was Hiccup's ride home, he had to stay at school until she finished cross country practice. Hiccup definitely didn't mind as it would give him a chance to admire her stealth and athletic ability from afar. Hiccup made his way to the infield of the track as Astrid met up with the rest of her team to warm up before their workout. Hiccup lowered himself to the grass and stretched out his feet…well foot in front of him. His hands played with the green carpet, and he watched Astrid do a few warm up laps and then thoroughly stretch each leg.

As Astrid gallivanted around the track in the most graceful fashion, Hiccup had flashbacks to when he first watched her from beside Gobber. Oh how much things had changed so much since then, not too long ago. At that time, the most Hiccup could ever hope for with Astrid Hofferson was to be her friend. But now, now they were dating. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III was dating Astrid Hofferson. He still really couldn't believe it. She was more than he could ever hope for in life. He would do everything to give her all that she deserved in terms of love, happiness, and support. No matter what. He never wanted to lose this amazing girl.

Hiccup laughed as Astrid picked up his crutches from the grass beside him and tried to walk around on them. Astrid was pretty tall for a girl, but at around six feet, Hiccup was still a good bit taller than she. That caused her to do more of a swinging motion than actually crutching with them. "Careful Astrid! If you don't watch it you might end up needed a pair yourself!" Hiccup laughed. She immediately put the crutches down and sat next to Hiccup, hand on his shoulder. Even though she was a little sweaty from kicking butt in her cross country workout, Hiccup really didn't mind that she sat so close. "I'd say you definitely ran fast enough for both of us today!" Hiccup chortled.

"Today? I think I run fast every day! If not then I'll be _left out_!" she teased, pointing to Hiccup's missing left foot.

"Oh man, my punny humor is rubbing off on you! What have I done!"

"You know what they say, if you can beat it, join it!" They laughed and sat together until Gobber called her over to finish her cool down.

"Hey, if you slack of on this cooldown because you had such a great workout, you'll pay for it later!" Hiccup called as she walked away.

Turning back to her boyfriend, she smirked, "Oh really! You don't think its call a _cool_ down for a reason! And anyways, what do you think you can get away with doing on crutches!"

"I'll pin Toothless against you!" the one-legged boy shouted.

"So you're inviting me over after practice now, are we?"

"Astrid! Stop flirting and get yer butt over here!" Gobber yelled. Hiccup laughed as he saw his girlfriend's face turn as red as a cherry. Did he just invite her over? He really didn't know if she was still kidding or not? _Well, she's gotta go to my house anyways to drop me off. If she didn't mean it, I could just be a man and ask her to come in, Hiccup contemplated silently._

As Hiccup was deep in thought, trying to think of ways to be manlier and more confident with Astrid, he felt a slender hand upon his shoulder. "Come on, lazy! Get up! We have a lot of work to do tonight! That make up work isn't going to do itself!" The girl extended her hand and helped the boy off the grass and his ass.

"So that means you're coming over?"

"Duh! I went slow during my cool down so you need to pin Toothless against me!" she smiled at her boyfriend and then suddenly took off in a sprint. "Race ya to the car!"

"Hey! No fair! Get back here! Now I'll have to get Toothless to attack you twice as hard!" Hiccup laughed as he crutched off after his girlfriend.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

"Hiccup?" the beautiful blonde girl looked over from the behind the wheel at her boyfriend sitting in the passenger's seat.

"Yes, milady," he replied, smiling sweetly.

"Would you mind if we stopped by my house really fast so I can take a quick shower? I'm still really sweaty from practice."

"Well, I wasn't going to say anything about your stench, but now that you mention it…" Hiccup was interrupted by a sharp punch to his left bicep. He looked over at the girl driving and shook his head slightly. Astrid tried to shoot a stern glance back in his direction, but she definitely failed in keeping the corners of her mouth down. Soon, she could no longer contain the smile, and it unveiled along with a series of giggles.

"So is that an 'it's okay' then?"

"Most definitely. But it's going to cost you because your house is sooo far away from mine."

"Oh yeah, a whole five minutes!"

When Astrid pulled her blue car into the driveway, she saw that the garage door was open, indicating that her parents are home. _Lucky Hiccup, he gets to listen to dad jokes while I'm in the shower_ , Astrid thought to herself as she opened the door. Sure enough, her parents were kitchen, both looking over some papers that were spread all around the table. Mr. Hofferson looked up at the sound of the opening door and removed his reading glasses. "Look who's home!" he exclaimed and opened his arms to prepare for a hug. Due to Hiccup still being on crutches, he was behind Astrid, still making his way in the door. She turned around to help him and make sure that he didn't make a grand entrance into the Hofferson home.

"Look who else is home!" Astrid remarked and gestured to the lanky boy, awkwardly leaning on his crutches. "Mom, Dad, you know Hiccup, right?"

"Of course! I always get them after I drink too much. Me and hiccups are definitely acquainted with each other!" Mr. Hofferson said, looking very amused at his own joke. Poor Hiccup, the dad jokes were starting already.

Mrs. Hofferson came over to where Hiccup was standing and offered her hand, "I don't believe we have actually met in person, but we have definitely heard a lot about you. Astrid won't shut up about her boyfriend,"

"Good things I hope. Very nice to meet you too."

"Careful shaking hands, Hiccup," Astrid cautioned, placing her palm upon Hiccup's shoulder, "you don't want a repeat of this morning when you almost tipped over trying to high-five!"

Hiccup laughed, "I'm like seven hours more experienced on crutches than I was then!"

Astrid patted his shoulder softly, "Experienced wouldn't exactly be the word I would use."

"So Hiccup," Mr. Hofferson interjected, "where are you thinking about school?" Oh boy, here goes the overload of questions. Astrid definitely did not want to think about applying to colleges right now. At this very moment in life, she was perfectly content and didn't want anything to change. Even though she and Hiccup had only been officially dating for about two weeks, she really didn't want them to go to separate schools and never get to see each other again. What if she never found love like this again!

"Huh?" Astrid was snapped back to reality from her plethora of fears by the animated voice of her father.

"Man! You can think about that stuff later! I'm right here!" he laughed. "I was just asking what you and Hiccup had planned for tonight. Hot date?"

"Oh yeah, you know there's nothing hotter than studying and doing make-up work," she iterated sarcastically.

"Well I don't down what's code and what not with you kids anymore. Who knows what all these 'lols' and 'omgs' mean anyways!" Both Hiccup and Astrid looked at each other and chuckled.

Hiccup clarified, "studying definitely means studying. What you were thinking of was probably the phrase 'Netflix and chill.'" Astrid punched her boyfriend firmly in the upper arm, giving him a slight smirk while she was at it. She was glad that her parents seemed to like Hiccup and that Hiccup seemed to like her parents enough to joke around as well.

"Well, I have to go shower…you know, the thing I came here to actually do other than listen to your lame jokes, dad!"

Mr. Hofferson scoffed mordantly , "lame? Lame? My jokes are anything but lame! Isn't that right, Hiccup!" The boy shook his head vigorously.

"No, sir. Definitely not."

"Hey! Whose side are you on!" Astrid quipped.

Hiccup bantered back, "well, I got be honest here, I need to make a good first impression with your parents if they are going to let me continue dating you!"

"I like this one," Mrs. Hofferson interjected. "Well done, kid. I raised you well enough to find a man a lot smarter than your father!"

The dynamic was a little different when Astrid and Hiccup got to the Haddock household. Instead of loudly exclaiming that his offspring was home, Stoick sat in front of the TV, completely absorbed in a crime show on TV. Astrid didn't think that he even heard them enter. And he was eating a large rotisserie chicken just like Gobber was this morning. What is with them and their chicken! "Hi Mayor Haddock." No answer. Astrid gave Hiccup a look and he just shrugged.

"That would be my dad for you. He sometimes gets so absorbed in those crime shows that everything else in the world becomes secondary. Hell, I could set the house on fire and he wouldn't notice until his ass was up in flames, and even that might be a gamble!"

Astrid chuckled, "well, I guess he won't mind if we study in your room together now, will he!"

"Nope, that's for sure! And with the door closed!" Astrid helped Hiccup up the stairs, standing behind him in case he tipped back on his crutches. It wasn't until they were actually up the stairs that Astrid wondered how she would catch him if he did fall. She was extremely strong, but she was pretty sure that his momentum would cause them both go down. Thank goodness she didn't have to find out! As Astrid walked into Hiccup's bedroom and shut the door behind her, she couldn't help but be absolutely enthralled by her boyfriend's room. The room itself was large- much larger than hers, but that's not what caught her eyes. Plastered to the walls were very detailed sketches ranging from mechanical set ups to landscapes. However, one particular drawing caught her eye the most. There, clear as day, was an intricately sketched picture of her- head down, writing furiously. He must have drawn her while they were in chemistry class together. Hiccup suddenly noticed what she was looking at, and a pink glow spread across his cheeks as he nervously started playing with his hands.

"Hiccup, these are amazing!" she gushed, genuinely impressed.

"Err…um…thanks," he muttered as he ran his fingers through his hair. "I hope that's not too creepy that I drew you sitting in chemistry class."

"Creepy! Not at all! I would actually use the word flattered. When did you draw this?"

"Um…let me think…" His eyes darted upwards towards the ceiling as he tried to recall. "I'm pretty sure it was after our first lab when you were angry at me for having to do the whole thing."

"And you still wanted to draw me?"

"I still thought you were the most beautiful, amazing girl in the whole world. I guess I knew deep down that you were not really as tough and menacing as you came across…"

"Tough and menacing, huh?" she smirked.

"I mean…like in a good way," Hiccup quickly covered.

Astrid sighed deeply, "No, you're right. I was unfairly mean to you." She paused and looked around the room again. "To be honest, I was really jealous of you. I always tried and tried to be the very best at everything, and there you were… perfect. What I really wanted to be and what I expected of myself. But in reality, I'm nowhere close, especially when it comes to school. The only reason I am number two in the class is because Fishlegs failed gym class freshman year. He is so much smarter than me, you are so much smarter than me. And that's why I acted so tough and menacing to you. I know that's no excuse but.."

Hiccup cut her off, "Astrid, you are perfect. Maybe not at everything, but you are perfect to me."

"Thank Hiccup. That really means a lot."

"Come here," Hiccup gestured as he patted the space on the bed beside him. No sooner did she sit down that Hiccup pressed his lips onto hers. She was pleasantly surprised by the intensity and force of the kiss. Placing her hand on the back of his head, she drew herself deeper into his embrace. When their lips parted, Hiccup looked at her with such sincerity that she wanted to fling herself upon him again. "Astrid, did I mention that I love you."

"I love you too," she whispered as she captured his lips again.

"So am I helping you with your make-up work or…?" Astrid asked after several minutes of intense kissing.

"I'd rather 'make out' than do 'make up," Hiccup winked.

She chuckled, "to be honest, me too…but you have a lot of work that you missed."

"It's senior year…that can wait!" Hiccup didn't give Astrid a chance to protest. Instead, he once again smashed his face upon hers. As the kiss grew more and more intense, Astrid gently pushed Hiccup down onto the bed and she climbed on top of him. It felt so good as one hand nimbly ran though her hair and the other one drew contiguous circles on the small of her back. He was right, this definitely beat doing his make-up work!

These first several moments of being in Hiccup's room definitely set the tone for the rest of the night as they didn't really get any actually work done. The moment they finally decided to focus on school, one of them would crack a joke or give a funny look and they would be rolling around in laughter instead of focusing on the task at hand. And not to mention the fact that a lot of making out went on too. This was their first time in their relationship that they were really alone, and they definitely wanted to make the most of it. Astrid had never felt this type of elation or pure bliss in her life as she did when she was wrapped up in Hiccup's small but protective arms. Every fiber in her body glowed with passion and pure love.

"Is this the first time you've had a girl in your room?" Astrid laughed.

"Actually, yes it is!"

"I feel so special!"

"You should! I don't let just any girlfriend up here!"

"Oh really? You said in the hospital that you were previously 'going study with your textbooks.' If I'm not mistaken, I see a textbook right there!"

Hiccup smirked, "well who said that my textbook was a girl! Last I checked, books don't have genitalia! Well…not unless they are a biology or anatomy book!" They both started laughed hysterically. That was such a Hiccup thing to say.

"Are you hungry at all?" Hiccup asked, trying everything to distract them from homework. "If you are, I can run down really fast and make us a sandwich or see what leftovers my dad has."

"Run down? Are you sure about that? And how, may I ask, are you going to carry all this back up?"

"Oh yeah, I always forget I don't have a leg any more. I can't wait until I am healed enough to get my prosthetic."

"Do you know what kind of prosthetic you are going to get?"

"I've looked at all the makes and models online, but to be honest, none of them are really what I want. I guess I'll have to just get whatever is closest and tweak it a bit."

Astrid smiled. That was so Hiccup. Of course he would have to tweak his prosthetic and "Hiccupfy" it.

"But really," he continued, "are you hungry?"

"Hiccup, I'm always hungry. We can go down together so you don't fall and lose your right leg."

"That sounds like a good idea."


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

Today was the day! The day Hiccup was finally going to get his prosthetic leg! He was more than excited to ditch those stupid crutches forever and get back up on his own two feet! (Well, foot and prosthetic that is.) The callouses on his palms and in his armpits were enough to make anyone want to chuck those metal death poles off a cliff and never see another pair ever again! He had met with the prosthesis at a previous time to get a mold of his left stump done so they could design the leg to fit like a glove. Today, the new contraption would be unveiled and he would finally get to take it home with him. Hiccup felt like a kid on Christmas. He couldn't contain his excitement.

Poor Astrid, for the past few days, the new leg was all that Hiccup would talk about. She was a good sport and listened to him ramble, even throwing in a few suggestions here and there about what Hiccup could do with the prosthetic. One thing that Astrid had brought up was running. Because she was such an avid runner, she really wanted to be able to go on long runs with her boyfriend. Hiccup on the other hand, was not too sure about this idea. He was a pretty lousy runner before the accident due to his extreme clumsiness, so he was really skeptical about running on a leg and a half! But for Astrid, he might give it a try. He would do anything for her.

Both Stoick and Astrid accompanied Hiccup on his trip to the prosthetist. Stoick had picked them both up directly from school, and he rambled the entire way there about the time long, long ago when Gobber first got his prosthetics for his arm and leg. Having a best friend with prosthetics somehow made Stoick believe that he was an expert on the subject. Hiccup and Astrid just looked at each other as the large man's thundering voice went on and on about how much prosthetic devices had evolved over the years and they types that were good versus not so good.

When the trio arrived at the prosthetist, Hiccup crutched ungracefully across the doorway and into the waiting room for what he hoped and prayed would be the last time. He couldn't help but think that he would be a free man on the way out! Unsurprisingly, Stoick had insisted upon getting something to eat before the appointment and had stopped by the drive thru of the fast food restaurant right next to the doctors. The large man noisily unwrapped his triple bacon cheeseburger as they took their seats.

Hiccup looked around, and couldn't help but notice the other patients dotted around the waiting room. There were mostly older people. Some had naked stumps and others already had a prosthetic device extending from their real limb. The pure excitement from earlier in the day faded into something else. Astrid apparently noticed his distinct change in facial expression.

"Are you nervous?" she asked as she laced her fingers through Hiccup's.

Hiccup replied earnestly, "to be honest, I'm not really sure what I am feeling right now. Of course, I am beyond excited to ditch these death traps," he gestured to his crutches, "but I also feel like I don't belong here, Astrid. Look at all these other people in the room. They are all so much older than me, and they probably all have their lives together and figured. And here's me…a skinny teenager who still doesn't know who he is. And now I will have my leg to worry about as I go off to college and enter the real world. Will I be defined by this disability?"

"Hiccup, who you are is in here," she pointed to his heart, "not there," she said as she then pointed to his left stump. "People won't define you as disabled if you don't let them. Show them the real, brave, intelligent, kind Hiccup and they will know you as such. I know it's not easy…I mean I can't pretend to know what it's like…but from what I know about you, you can overcome any obstacle in your way. And so what if no one else our age has a prosthetic! You are never afraid to be different and to soar above the clouds and go where no one goes!" Astrid looked right into Hiccup's eyes. He could see that warmth and love that spread from hers and into his.

"Thank, Astrid."

"Haddock?" a kind looking middle-aged woman announced through the doorway.

"Right here!" Stoick grumbled through a mouth-full of fries.

She gestured over her left shoulder, "follow me in here." Hiccup let go of Astrid's soft, warm hand so he could grab his crutches. Walking and holding Astrid's hand at the same time was definitely one thing that Hiccup was looking forward to when he got his new leg! The room which the woman led them to had large, full-length mirrors on the three wall extending from the door. A set of parallel bars was perched in one corner along with various exercise equipment that included a treadmill, bike, and elliptical. Other resistance bands and medicine balls were strewn around the room, reminding Hiccup of a gym. Apparently Stoick was thinking the same thing.

"Son, once you get your new leg, you can finally take advantage of that gym pass I got for you earlier in the year to try to impress Astrid." Hiccup looked over at his girlfriend as he felt his face growing a deep shade of red.

Astrid smiled at him and laughed, "well, that gym pass of yours definitely paid off! I mean, I obviously fell in love with those massive biceps and rippling pecs of yours!"

"You don't even know what to do with all _this_!" he teased as he flexed his skinny arms in front of him.

The woman interrupted the young couple's bantering and asked Hiccup to sit on the exam table. She had him take off the compression sleeve on his left stump so she could examine the area where the stitches were. "The wound looks very well healed. No signs of any infection or inflammation, so we will definitely be able to get you up and walking today!" the woman declared excitedly.

She disappeared for a moment, but when she returned, she had Hiccup's shiny, new prosthetic in her hand. She brought it over for Hiccup to examine. For a prosthetic, it was simple, consisting of a plastic base for his stump and a metal extension where his foot should have been. The ankle joint was made of a spring-like mechanism that would allow for the mobility of the foot to more closely mimic that of a real one. It was also explained to Hiccup that many different types of prosthetics were available, depending on what he wanted to do with it. This prototype was just the initial one to get him up and used to walking on the prosthetic. Hiccup could then make tweaks later down the road to optimize his quality of life with the prosthetic.

The plastic base of the prosthetic fit like a glove…or shoe was probably a more appropriate analogy to make in this instance. The extra weight of the prosthetic felt a little strange, as Hiccup had finally just gotten used to the lightness that resulted from his missing foot.

"Okay, Hiccup, I am going to have you stand up now to get used to the pressure." With the prosthesist's help, Hiccup put first his right foot down onto the floor, and after a good pause, he put his new left foot down next to his right. He had no real weight on the foot yet, but it already felt strange. He couldn't stall much longer. Gripping onto the table, he stood and let out a massive breath. As he tried to take that first step towards the parallel bars, his fake foot gave out from under him, causing him to sway forward towards the floor. Thankfully, Astrid was there to catch him and allow Hiccup to regain his balance. (Hiccup was pretty sure that it was the prosthetist's job to make sure he didn't fall, but he really didn't mind that physical contact from Astrid and the way she looked at him-eyes that promised he would be able to do this.)

Hiccup spent the remainder of the hour over at the parallel bars, learning the mechanics and balance of his new leg. It was really difficult at first to get used to the leg, but luckily for Hiccup, he was a fast learner. Before the trio was allowed to leave, Hiccup was given further instructions pertaining to his prosthetic, and a follow-up appointment was scheduled. It wasn't until they were officially exiting the clinic when the biggest smile appeared on Hiccup's face as he turned towards Astrid. He gently took ahold of her hand and laced his fingers through hers. And then they walked, hand and hand across the parking lot for the first time as boyfriend and girlfriend. While the distance traveled intertwined together was short, it felt like a life-time achievement for Hiccup. Ever since Astrid had first professed her love to him in that stark-white hospital room, walking hand and hand with her was something he had dreamed of doing- a simple gesture that was both sweet and proclaimed to the world that they were together.

"What do you want to do first with your new leg?" Astrid inquired enthusiastically.

"I have just the idea!" Hiccup responded, giving his girlfriend a sly grin.

When they arrived back at the Haddock household, Hiccup eagerly hopped out of his father's truck and motioned for Astrid to follow him. He took ahold of her hand again, both for the romantic gesture as well as for extra support in walking on his new leg. "Oh wait! I definitely forgot something!" Hiccup suddenly exclaimed. "Toothless!" The boy disappeared into the house, returning with the large, black cat in his leash and harness.

"So will you tell me where we are going?" the beautiful blonde girl pleaded.

Hiccup smiled again, "nope, just let me show you!" Hand in hand they walked across Berk in the direction of the park. When they got there, Hiccup didn't stop; he pulled Astrid in the direction of the wooded area towards the back, only stopping when they reached the same entrance were he had first encountered Toothless.

"Here we are, milady"

"The trails of the park?"

"Yup! There are some things in here that I want you to see," the boy explained. "I will show you were I first met Toothless and then the project that we are working on together." Astrid said no more as she allowed herself to be led towards a small clearing in the woods with a large granite rock sitting off toward the side. "This is where Toothless and I first met. The funny thing is, I was actually the one to shoot Toothless down, trying to impress my father. We match now," Hiccup elucidated as he pointed to Toothless's back left paw. Astrid had never noticed it before, but now that Hiccup pointed it out, she could clearly see that the paw wasn't furry like the rest of Toothless. Instead, it was made out of a metal material, painted black. It functioned exactly as a real paw, much like Hiccup's new leg functioned exactly as a real one, too.

"I've never asked this, but I've always been a bit curious. How exactly did you befriend Toothless, Hiccup?"

Hiccup explained the story in great depth, "it was a slow process that took the building of mutual trust. But to be honest, Toothless was the one that befriended me first, and for that I am forever grateful." Toothless let out a meow as if to second Hiccup. "There's one more thing I want to show you, Astrid." Once again, Hiccup took Astrid by the hand and led her deep into the forest. "You see all those acres of woods back there?" he said as he turned her head in the direction he was looking.

"Yeah, that's a lot of trees."

"I know! And the map of the park trails ends pretty much around here," he pointed to an imaginary line in the leaf-covered forest floor. "All that space beyond is unmarked territory. Toothless and I have spent several afternoons exploring, mapping out, and creating new trails for the people of Berk to hike and run on. I have the map here, right in my phone." Hiccup pulled the device out of the pocket of his green pants and handed it to his girlfriend beside him.

"Wow, Hiccup. That's amazing. You and Toothless have really worked hard on this project. I had no idea that all this was out there. You know, it's kinda funny that I have run these trails for cross country hundreds of times, yet I failed to notice what was just beyond my reach. Once we get those trails all finished, I won't have to do five loops around the park just to get in a simple ten mile run in!"

"And by we do you mean that you will help Toothless and me with the map?"

"Of course! Especially because it means spending lots of time alone together!" Astrid cheered as she flung her arms around Hiccup's neck and nuzzled softly against his cheek before giving him a light yet affectionate peck on the check. Before she let go of Hiccup, she whispered in his ear, "by the way, I really like the new leg because I am able to do this without fear of knocking you off your crutches!"

Hiccup chuckled softly, "me too! And it allows me to do _this_!" He took ahold of Astrid's slim waist and hoisted her up in the air and spun her in a circle. When he placed her feet back on the dank organic floor, he drew her in so that their abdomens were touches and returned her kiss, but with much more intensity than her modest peck. The kissing couple migrated over to the rough surface of a tree trunk, Astrid's back pressed up between the plant and Hiccup.

Apparently Toothless had had too much of the lovey dovey between Astrid and Hiccup. They were paying too much attention to each other, and absolutely none to him; therefore, the cat decided to get in on the action and wedge his sleek, furry body in between the two lovers. His efforts were definitely successful as they immediately disjointed and turned towards the cat.

"Toothless! We were having a moment! Couple means two, not T _wo_ thless!"

Both Astrid and Toothless laughed at this comment, except Toothless's laugh sounded much more like a snort than it did a laugh.

"We should probably get back anyways. Toothless…and most definitely just Toothless is starting to get hungry…I think," Astrid quipped.

"Oh okay!" Hiccup replied sarcastically. "In that case, I will have to get Toothless…and most definitely just Toothless dinner!"

"Well…what about if Astrid…and just Astrid paid for dinner? Meade Diner? Eat food?" The couple both laughed.

"Okay, okay! I guess we can eat too! Meade Diner it is!"


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

The time leading up to Thanksgiving break passed quickly for Astrid. Between schoolwork, cross country, college applications, and her boyfriend, she kept extremely busy. Now that it was November, everything was winding down. What got Astrid most nervous about the month of November was that it was time for the state cross country meet and most importantly, early admission college decisions were due to come out.

Shortly after Hiccup had received his new leg, the couple sat down together to discuss colleges. It wasn't that Astrid and Hiccup were going to base their entire college decision off each other, but they both just wanted to see if they would be applying to the same places. Honestly though, Astrid could not begin to imagine them going to separate schools. She loved Hiccup so much that even just thinking of them parting ways in less than a year made her sick to her stomach. Thankfully, when Hiccup and she laid down their lists of colleges to apply to, most of them matched up. Despite this, Astrid was still worried. That little voice in the back of her head kept pestering her about "what if" scenarios. What if she didn't get into any of the schools that Hiccup did? What if Hiccup didn't want to go to the same college as she? What if they were on opposite ends of the country? Astrid knew of couples who did really well with long-distance relationships, but she didn't know if that would work with her and Hiccup. One of the best parts about dating Hiccup was just being around him, even if they weren't talking. His crooked smile always made her heart melt. And the face he made whenever he was concentrating on something was just plain adorable. Whenever Astrid was around him, she couldn't help being happy. And frankly, if they did a long distance relationship, she didn't know how she would bear not being able to kiss his soft lips or hold his rough hands.

What was she thinking! After a long time of sitting in her room worrying, Astrid punched herself to get her back to reality. She really didn't know what had come over her. Was she going weak for wanting to be with Hiccup? Come on! She was Astrid Hofferson, a strong, independent girl that could get by on her own. She needed to focus on what would be best for her in terms of being successful in life and stop worrying about her feelings.

As Astrid thought of her future success, her mind drifted to the success she hoped to have in her state cross country meet that upcoming weekend. While success in that race wouldn't matter in the future, she still really wanted it in order to justify all the blood, sweat, tears, and dedication she had put into cross country over the past four years of high school. And to Astrid, success was everything.

That Saturday, Astrid woke up long before the sun rose. She glanced at her wrist watch: 4:30. No matter how hard she tried to go back to sleep, she couldn't as her mind and body were filled with nerves about her senior year cross country state championship that day. This was her last chance to win it, as she had just gotten edged out last year by her running rival, Heather. Astrid was a favorite going into the race, but she knew that that did not mean anything. She would still have to give it her absolute all and run a really smart race. Sleep would definitely help this happen, but apparently that was not in Mother Nature's plan for the day. Instead of tossing and turning, Astrid decided to get on YouTube to watch motivational and pump-up videos to get her in racing mood.

Gobber gathered the seven girl runners that made up Berk High School's state cross country team. The large, two-limbed man put his massive arms around two of the girls, who followed suit until the team formed a ring. Gobber cleared his throat, "I'm so proud uv ew this season so far. Yew've all worked so hard an that's definitely paid off. No mat'er what happens today, you have had a great season! An seniors, thanks fur four years uv dedication to 'is team. Now les kick sum cross country butt! Vikin's on three!"

"ONE, TWO, THREE GOOOOO VIKINGS!" The team shouted in unison.

As soon as the huddle broke away, Astrid parted from her teammates in order to get in a few more warm-up strides before the runners were asked to take their starting positions. Her heart was pounding, and she felt like she might throw up. Just before she went over to join the rest of her teammates at the starting line, Astrid caught eyes with someone in the crowd. Bright emerald eyes shown with love and encouragement, and Astrid's nerves faded when she saw him mouth the words 'you got this' to her. She made a heart sign with her hands and then went right into race mode.

The starting gun sounded and hundreds of feet pounded the earth simultaneously. Astrid charged for the front of the pack, knowing that if she got caught up in the heart of race before the first bottle-neck that she would have no chance at winning. Both she and Gobber had talked over the race plan that morning: Astrid was to make her way up to the top five runners and stick with the pace set by the lead girl. Then, during the last mile, she was supposed to make her move. All this sounded great in theory, but things never exactly go as planned during races.

Right after Astrid and the leading pack finished their first mile in the extremely hilly and windy course, the girl right behind Astrid decided to try to pass her. As the opponent was making her move, she ended up cutting right in front of Astrid, causing her spikes to get tangled in the legs of her opponent. Astrid tumbled face first towards the grass hillside. As Astrid made impact with the earth, she felt the wind get knocked out of her, both from the fall and from the fact that she could see several girls making their ways past her. She was devastated. It was over. She wasn't going to get her state championship. There was no way she could win now. But as Astrid stared at the emerald green grass beneath her, she was reminded of something. Hiccup. Hiccup never gave up, no matter what. When he lost his leg, he picked himself back up and continued on with life. Thinking of her amazingly courageous boyfriend standing somewhere among the crowd, Astrid found the strength to get back onto her feet and rocket forward. She didn't even hear the roar of the spectators as they cheered for her- she was too busy focusing on the pack of girls in front of her.

Slowly but surely, Astrid made her way back up. She didn't know how her legs were doing it, but she did have only one thing on her mind. Before Astrid knew it, it was just her and Heather up at the front of the pack and less than a mile to go. "Okay, Astrid, it's now or never!" she muttered through gritted teeth. Driving her spikes into the ground, she willed her legs to go faster and faster. She felt like she was breathing in fire, but she tried her best to ignore that feeling and focus on putting one foot in front of the other.

Just a quarter mile to go now. Astrid could see the finish line in front of her with the winner's tape unbroken. Heather was still hot on her heel, hoping to claim her second state championship. All of the sudden, Astrid picked a voice out of the crowd. Even though it was nasally, it sounded like liquid gold. "GO ASTRID! YOU CAN DO IT! YOU'RE ALMOST THERE!" it yelled. Through the immense pain that had settled in Astrid's lungs and legs, a wide smile crept across her beat-red face. Hearing her boyfriend in the crowd was all she needed to get through the very last part of the race. Giving it everything she got, Astrid sped towards the finish line. Astrid felt the winner's tape tug against her chest and then give. As soon as she was over the line, the state champion's legs gave away and she collapsed, not onto the trampled ground, but into Hiccup's skinny arms.

"Thanks, Hiccup," Astrid huffed, still extremely out of breath.

"You were amazing out there! I love you so much!" Hiccup replied. A crowd had begun to gather around the winner, still in her boyfriend's arms. "Are you okay, Astrid?" asked Hiccup.

"Yeah, I think I can feel my legs again." Astrid heaved herself up. Her legs wobbled significantly, but they were able to hold her weight. Gobber made his way through the crowd, wrapping his arms around the sweaty runner. She still hadn't fully caught her breath after the race, and the bear hug was not helping that face at all.

"You've done it, Astrid! You won the state championship!" Gobber exclaimed ecstatically as a large tear rolled down his left cheek. "I'm so proud of ya!"

As soon as the feeling fully returned to Astrid's legs, she made her way over to where Heather was talking to her coach, Al. She was clearly disappointed that she had lost as the coach was consoling her. Astrid placed a sweaty hand on Heather's shoulder, "great race, Heather. You ran really well out there."

"Thanks, Astrid," she sighed heavily. "I'm really happy you won this year. You had an amazing finish." The two sweaty runners embraced in a hug that symbolized the greater meaning of the sport- comradery. While they were enemies out on the course, they both shared a great love of running and were both out there doing their best. As soon as the embrace ended, Astrid went over to join Gobber and the rest of their team before the overall team winner was announced.

Not only did Astrid get called up to the winner's podium to receive her first place medal, but she also got called up again, along with six other girls from Berk High School to receive the overall team award. As Astrid walked away from the meet with both her individual first place medal as well as the team trophy, a tall skinny boy caught up with her.

"Hey Astrid! What have you been doing all day I had to watch a pretty boring parade of sweaty people all afternoon!" Hiccup joked.!

"Oh, you know, winning races. What else!" she laughed. Hiccup put his arm around her as they walked off to his car laughing and talking excitedly about the day.

A few weeks after Astrid won the cross country state championship, she and Hiccup sat down at the Hofferson kitchen table. In Astrid's hand sat an envelope. She turned the manila letter over and over in her hand, starting absent-mindedly at it. Looking over at Hiccup, he gave a slight nod towards to letter. Slowly, Astrid's slim fingers found the corner and ripped. Pulling out the paper within, her whole body was trembling with anxiety. After several long moments of hesitation, Astrid finally willed herself to look down at the papers in her hand. Her head was buzzing as she read the first few lines, and suddenly her breath caught. The letter read "Night Fury University had a record number of applicants this year. It was an extremely difficult decision, but we have decided to defer your admissions decision." She read over that line several times, as if it would suddenly change to a yes. Astrid's whole body was numb, except for the feeling of moisture building up in her eyes. Willing herself not to cry, she shook her head at Hiccup. The next thing she knew, his arms were wrapped around her trembling body and he kissed the top of her head. Hiccup had received his acceptance letter to Night Fury University yesterday, and it was definitely one of his top choices as the school was among the best in the country. That made the deferral all that more difficult because it would be very likely that Hiccup would choose to attend there.

Hiccup whispered softly into Astrid's hair, "Astrid, it's okay. It's just a deferral, not a denial. You will definitely get in with regular admission. I promise you everything is going to work out." Astrid nodded her head against his, still fighting the tear battle with her eyes.

"Hiccup," she whimpered, "I just can't imagine going off to college without you."

"Astrid, I wouldn't be able to bear it either. I have laid awake at night worrying about us going out separate ways. I really don't think I can do it." These words suddenly made Astrid feel a lot better as it wasn't the deferral itself that made her upset, but the fact that she might not end up at the same place as Hiccup. She was so relieved to know that he felt the same way about leaving her as she did about leaving him.

Suddenly, Mr. Hofferson appeared in the doorway. Astrid, whose head was still buried in Hiccup's shoulder, thankfully did not see her father as he was wearing a T-shirt with the words "Night Fury University" scrawled across the top, along with the school mascot of a dragon. When Hiccup saw what he was wearing, he pointed to the shirt and made a sweeping motion with his hand across his neck to indicate that he probably shouldn't be wearing that shirt. Mr. Hofferson got the clue and decided to take his shirt off right then and there. Definitely not what Hiccup intended.

As Astrid finally lifted herself from Hiccup's warm embrace, she caught sight of her shirtless father. She let her shoulders fall into a shrug as she continued to look confused. Mr. Hofferson mouthed the word "sorry" as he tried to slink out of the room unnoticed.

"What was that all about?" Astrid asked Hiccup.

"Ugh…you probably don't want to know."

"He was wearing his Night Fury University shirt that he got on that visit, wasn't he?"

Hiccup smirked, "dang, you're too smart!"

"Too bad I'm not smart enough to get into Night Fury University," she replied half kidding, half not.

As Hiccup put his arm around her again, his face suddenly lit up. "I have an idea to help make you feel better!" he announced. "Let's go to my house!"


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

"Hiccup! What are we doing!" Astrid insisted as Hiccup took her by the hand and led her to the passenger side of his car.

"I told you I have an idea to make you feel better, but I don't want to spoil the fun just yet." When the couple arrived back at the Haddock house, Hiccup opened the door for Astrid, grabbed her hand once more, and led her up to his bedroom.

Astrid looked awkwardly around the room and then fixated her gaze at her boyfriend. "Hiccup! Don't you even think about it," she growled. It took Hiccup several moments to understand what she was insinuating, but when he realized, his face went bright red.

"Oh! N-no, no, Astrid! I r-really didn't mean what you are t-thinking! I'm s-sorry…I ugh…I…" he stuttered.

Astrid laughed nervously, "okay, good. I didn't think so but you just still haven't told me what your big idea was…"

"Oh yeah, I kinda forgot to mention that when we got up here. So my big idea...drumroll please…is to make forts!"

"Forts?" Astrid seemed confused. "You mean like blanket forts?"

"Or course! I may be good a building stuff, but I don't think I have enough time or supplies to make a full army-grade fort now!"

"I love it! I haven't been in a blanket fort in forever! That's actually a really good idea, Hiccup!" Hiccup was a little surprised that she was so receptive of his idea from the start. He had expected that she would need a little persuading at first!

"Thanks! I haven't been in one in a long time either. My dad used to make them all the time for me when I was younger. It was the one father son activity I really remember doing with him that I actually enjoyed and wasn't forced into. Whenever I was feeling sad or alone or missing my mother, my dad would come up to my room and we would build a fort together. He used to tell me that blanket forts were impenetrable to any sadness or anguish and that inside it, I became the strongest warrior of them all!" Astrid didn't know what to say. Instead, she wrapped her arms around Hiccup's lanky body.

"That's amazing," she whispered softly in his ear.

"What's really amazing is that my father would actually get in the fort himself. It's pretty comical to see a 400 pound man trying to squeeze into a space meant for children!" They both laughed at the image of Stoick trying to squeeze himself into a blanket fort.

"So, we should get to building then," Astrid declared. Hiccup went to retrieve as many blankets and sheets as he could find around the house. Together, they spent the evening erecting the fort and trying to make it as awesome as possible. After they had finished preventing the sheets and blankets from collapsing in on themselves, Hiccup and Astrid took a step back to admire their work. Hiccup was more than pleased with the aesthetics of the structure. It was much better and more elaborate than anything he had remembered from childhood. He supposed that it's greatness wasn't much of a surprise due to the fact that he and Astrid always made a great team. And that fact that they were both pretty creative didn't hurt much as well.

"After you, milady," Hiccup gestured as he lifted the opening of the fort for Astrid.

She took one step in and her face lit up, "you're right, Hiccup. This is pretty cool. It is amazing. This definitely makes me feel better. Thank you." Hiccup beamed from ear to ear and placed a gentle kiss on Astrid's lips. When Hiccup's face parted from hers, Astrid took the chance to shine her phone flashlight up onto her face. She made the scariest face she could manage and then started making ghost noises. "OooooOOOoo! There once was a scary ghost named Astrid!" It wasn't long before she could no longer hold a straight face and busted out laughing. Hiccup joined in and soon both of them were rolling on the blanket covered floor of Hiccup's room.

"W-what are you doing?"

"I'm being scary, _duh_!"

"You're reminding me of what Tuff used to do when we were in boyscouts!"

" _You_ were in boyscouts?"

Hiccup blushed, "ugh yeah…just another of the many things by dad tried to put me in when I was younger to make me more ugh…more of ugh tougher boy. And just like most things, that one didn't really work out. But, Gobber was out troop leader."

"Gobber! Oh man! I can definitely see him sitting around a fire telling ghost stories!" Astrid chuckled.

"Oh yes. That was his absolute favorite thing to do! He tended to get really into whatever scary story he was telling. Some of them gave me nightmares for weeks!"

Astrid stood up on her knees and waved her arms wildly in an impersonation of Gobber, "an' then the beast took my hand an' swallowed it whole! An' I killed that thing! But did 'e leave? Noo! He turned into a ghost for revenge and I practically soiled my skivvies!" They both laughed hysterically at Astrid's impression, Scottish accent and all.

"That actually sounds exactly like something Gobber would say! I think I'm going to soil my own skivvies if I don't stop laughing so hard!" Hiccup decided to take his hand at impersonations. "When I wuz a young lad myself in boyscouts, I deci'ed to wander into the woods by myself af'er dark. And there I found a massive fire-breathing dragon as tall as the talles' building an' as wide as yer talles' mountain! And I took 'im on all by myself with only a rotisserie chicken to defend myself!"

By now, Hiccup and Astrid were laughing so hard that they had to use each other for support. Astrid's arms were firmly around Hiccup's chest and she was gasping for air. Hiccup really wasn't much of a brace as he too was shaking so much he was virtually hiccupping!

"Well, actually, I do remember a particular campfire story, but unfortunately it's not me doing the telling…it's me doing the ugh doing!"

"Oh boy! I can't wait for this one!" Astrid panted.

"Oh yes. Again, me and boyscouts never really got along. So there we were, hiking through the woods. I must have been about ten or eleven at the time. So as you know, Gobber, who was leading us through the woods, definitely didn't go easy on us at all. We had to carry our own packs equipped with all our camping supplies! And I know it's really hard to believe, but I was a very skinny and scrawny kid that could barely even lift a fork! So that backpack was not much fun at all. I ended up tripping and falling flat on my face at least a dozen times! I think Gobber finally took pity on me as he transferred some of my gear into his already overstuffed pack!"

"Let me guess, his pack was stuffed with all the extra undies that he brought!" Astrid chuckled.

"You laugh, but it's actually true! He was always prepared in the undergarment department! So anyways, no other than Scott also happened to be in my troop. As you can probably imagine, Scott was pretty much everything that a boyscout embodies. He was strong and loved being rough and tough. Even at ten years old, he could easily carry his backpack and probably mine as well. Just like the parking lot mishap on the first day of school this year, whenever I fell, Scott would come over to me and laugh as obnoxiously as he could and place his foot on me to prevent me from getting back up. As embarrassing as the tripping and falling was, it definitely was not the worst part of this particular boyscout trip. That evening, we all gathered around the giant campfire that Gobber made. He always liked to say that there was no such thing as too big a fire! But I now definitely beg to differ! While Gobber rambled on about one of his many stories, we were all roasting marshmallows on sticks. I was extremely tired from carrying that stupid pack all day; therefore, I wasn't really paying much attention to what I was doing. The next thing I know, my marshmallow catches on fire. Thinking quickly, I brought the flaming stick up towards my face so I could blow out the fire. Unfortunately for me, when I blew, it wasn't the fire that left the marshmallow, but instead, it was the flaming marshmallow that decided to leave the stick! And it just so happened that that flaming ball of synthetic food fell right onto a tarp that had been laying around the campsite. Apparently flaming marshmallows and tarps don't exactly mix so the entire campsite when up in flames. We had to use all of our drinking and cooking water in order to put the fire out. Meanwhile, Scott was rolling on the ground laughing at me and how 'he had never seen someone mess up that badly!' Because of my errors, we had to return from the camping trip early and never did earn the badge that we were working for."

When Hiccup had finished sharing this particular embarrassing moment of his life, he looked up to see that Astrid was trying with all her might not to laugh at the story. Her face was a ghastly shade of magenta and she looked like she might explode at any moment. "It's okay, Astrid, you can laugh at me…" As soon as the words came out of her boyfriend's mouth, she burst into hysterics again, not even bothering to contain the cute like snorts that escaped.

When she had caught her breath enough to speak, Astrid lay her hand gently on Hiccup's leg, "sorry, Hiccup. We all have embarrassing things happen to us though."

"Oh sure. I'm sure Ms. Perfect right here has never done anything to embarrass herself that badly."

"Actually I have. You wanna hear my embarrassing story? And no, it doesn't take place around a campfire though!"

"Do I ever!" Hiccup shouted shrewdly.

"Okay, so this story takes place during the holidays of our freshmen year of high school. It's not as long as yours, but it definitely gave me a reputation in the neighborhood! So, my embarrassing story begins with my parents throwing a holiday party. As you have met my parents before, you can see they are great people, just not so great planners. I mean my dad took care of the important things such as buying booze, the music, what people to invite, and the attire of ugly sweaters and my mom decorated the place. Apparently they kinda forgot that people like to eat during parties…especially during the holidays. So I ended up being in charge of food and drinks. I decided to make eggnog, cookies, and little sandwiches for little snacks. Before this, I had only assisted my mother in the kitchen, I was never completely on my own. But as my parents were busy with other party stuff, that was just what happened. I started off making the eggnog. I just had to mix a few ingredients together. What could possibly go so wrong? It looked right- slightly yellow with cinnamon on top; however, it did smell a little funky. I didn't really know how eggnog was supposed to smell, so I kinda let it slide. After the eggnog was prepared, I make some cookie dough and shaped them with holiday themed cookie cutters. They did look really cute if I do say so myself. While the cookies were in the oven, I made the sandwiches. It's impossible to mess up a sandwich, right? Wrong! So anyways, the party started and I set out all the food that I had made. Slowly but surely, all the neighbors and family friends arrived at our house. I was pretty excited for all them to try the goodies and see what they thought. The first customer grabbed a cup of eggnog and took a giant gulp. I immediately saw his face go green and he quickly spat the drink back into his cup. I thought it was a little strange, but just figured that he probably didn't like eggnog. Another woman came up to the food table to sample a sandwich. When she took a bite, her face too went green and she had to discard the partially chewed bite of sandwich into a napkin. So at this point I thought that there were just really picky eaters at the party…that was until my Uncle Finn came up to the table. He has a reputation of being fearless and never letting anything get him down. When he eyed one of the cookies that had been baked, I figured nothing could go wrong. But when he went to take a bite, he was unable to sink his teeth into the sugary dessert. Instead he cursed that it was like eating a hockey puck! As the evening crept on, more and more people tried my food and more and more people got sick off of my food. Nobody knew it was me who had prepared everything, not until my father who had a few beers in him at this point, casually shouted "thank you, Astrid for preparing the food today" to the entire party! I was mortified. Several people had already thrown up and many more were sprawled out on the couch, clutching their stomachs. I got death glares and people whispering about whenever I passed. I had never felt that much shame before. And to this day, I still don't know why my food was that bad! I think it some of the ingredients that I used were probably spoiled, but the world may never know. What the neighborhood does know is that party was crap…literally!"

"So you somehow managed to give the entire neighborhood food poisoning!"

"Oh yes. And my Uncle Finn who's never been sick a day in his life!"

"Sorry that happened to you, Astrid, but now I know to avoid your cooking in the future!" Hiccup snickered. "If it makes you feel any better, my dad always said that my mother used to be a terrible cook. She managed to make Gobber puke, and you see what he eats on a daily basis!"

"Thanks…that definitely makes me feel a lot better!" Astrid quipped sarcastically and Hiccup gave her a loving pat on the head.

Once the atmosphere inside the blanket fort had calmed down enough from all their laughter, Hiccup scooted over towards Astrid and gently lay down next to her. She shifted her body so that her head was resting on Hiccup's bony chest and she could feel every beat of his heart.

Running his rough fingers through her silky blonde hair, Hiccup whispered softly, "you know, Astrid, I'm really glad we are comfortable enough together to share our embarrassing moments."

"Me too, Hiccup," she replied tenderly. The period of silence that followed wasn't awkward at all. There was something comforting about it. Soon, the couple drifted off to sleep beneath the canopy of sheets, embracing each other. For the first time in a while, nothing in the future seemed to matter to them. The prospect of college seemed like a speck far in the future. The only thing that mattered was being with each other.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

Continuous cold blasts of wind circulated around Berk County. These were the type of winds that pierced through all the layers of clothing, entered through the skin, and settled in your bones. But the sad thing was, this terrible December weather was not the worst it was going to get. Devastating winter still wasn't due for another month!

Through the cold and the snow, the Haddock family (plus Gobber) and the Hofferson family planned out their holiday celebrations. Since each kinship consisted of only three members each, they had decided to congregate for the celebration. This was really Astrid's and Hiccup's idea as they both wanted to be together for the holidays. Luckily, the Hoffersons couldn't say no to an invitation to the mayor's house and frankly Stoick will agree to anything that involves food.

Because Gobber wasn't married and his closest relatives were probably yaks, he was always included in Haddock celebrations. Back when Hiccup's mother was around, Gobber always made sure he was around to do the cooking and this tradition had carried forward through the years.

Strangely enough, Gobber had requested evergreen needles for part of his meal preparations the morning of the big celebration. No one dared to question this strange entreaty, so Hiccup had volunteered to go collect some off the trees. Bundled up in so many layers that Hiccup resembled a giant marshmallow, Hiccup and Toothless took to the park.

"How many of these do you think he needs?" Hiccup asked Toothless. The cat let out a grunt that signaled uncertainty. "Well I guess it's better to have too much than too little." He filled up an entire bag just to be sure. Right as Hiccup and Toothless were about to get back in the car, a giant gust of wind blew down upon them. Hiccup's winter hat sailed from his head, twirled through the air, and landed on the very top of the tree from which he had just plucked needles off. The boy and the cat stared first at the hat perched high above and then at each other. "That hat belonged to my mother," he sighed glumly to Toothless. "My dad gave it to me a few years ago when I went on a winter camping trip for boyscouts. He said it was my mom's favorite cold-weather hat and she would have wanted me to have it." Toothless whimpered as he looked up. Suddenly, he darted from Hiccup's side and proceeded to climb the tree. "It's okay, bud. You don't have to do that. It's really cold so we should probably get back inside. I'm sure we can get it later." Reluctantly, Toothless removed his front paws from the tree and followed Hiccup as he waddled back to the car. Just as they were leaving, another whirlwind ascended and Hiccup saw his mother's hat glide through the wintery air once more.

The whole house smelled like a bakery when Hiccup returned. He gave the pine needles to Gobber who was whistling away as he stirred an exceptionally large pot of stew. "Thanks lad," he said between notes. " 'xactly what I needed. Ole secret recipe here!" Just as Hiccup was about to leave Gobber to his whistling and stirring to go upstairs and change into something that less resembled an sumo wrestler, Stoick opened the front door. Without warning, Toothless bolted out the entrance as fast as his three and a half legs would go.

"Toothless!" Hiccup cried. "Where are you going?" He really didn't need to ask this as he already knew the answer; although, he tried to chase after him anyways. Even with a bad leg, the cat was just too fast.

"What's was that all about?" Stoick hollered, still looking a little dazed from almost being bulldozed by a puma.

Hiccup scratched his head nervously, "I-I um kinda lost mom's winter hat back in the park. A-a huge gust of wind took it right off my head, and it ugh…"

"And how does that relate to Toothless?"

"He went to go get it, I suppose. He seemed very upset in the park when we left without it…"

Stoick let out a massive sigh, "let him go, son. He'll be back. He is a puma after all. He knows how to survive the elements."

As soon as everyone started showing up, Hiccup began to feel a lot better about not getting to spend the holiday with Toothless. He still felt a great emptiness no matter what room he went to, but having Astrid at his side definitely made things better.

"This is the first year of hopefully many that the Haddocks and Hoffersons are spending the holidays together, so I suggest we start some new traditions!" Astrid cheered gleefully.

"What do you have in mind?" Hiccup pondered.

A large grin spread across Astrid's face, "well, we could have a snowman building contest, or a snowball fight, or cookie decorating contest or a cookie eating contest or…"

"Does everything have to be a competition?"

"You're just afraid that your snowman is going to look like a snowball in comparison to mine!"

Overhearing the conversation between his daughter and her boyfriend, Mr. Hofferson interjected, "or we could open gifts now! I have something pretty special for you, young lady!"

Mr. Hofferson's idea ended up prevailing, mostly because no one wanted to go outside. Everyone took turns giving out and opening their gifts. Stoick had gotten Gobber a backscratcher that he could attach to his prosthetic arm so he would quit asking others to 'get that spot he just couldn't reach.' Stoick received food from pretty much everyone. Mr. Hofferson got a lot of socks and Mrs. Hofferson received a beautiful necklace. However, the most exciting gift of the evening came when Mr. Hofferson placed a thick manila envelope on his daughter lap and gestured for her to open it. The whole room inched a little closer to see what the parcel contained. Slowly, Astrid's slim fingers felt for the edge and lifted it up. She could feel five pairs of eyes staring intensely at her. Although she had an idea of what the envelope would contain, she did not want to get her hopes up. Carefully, the girl removed the contents and placed them gingerly on her lap. There were several piece of paper. Picking up one, Astrid turned it over and began to read what it said.

" _Dear Astrid, due to you stellar athletic performance we are pleased to offer you a spot on the varsity cross country team of Nadder University along with a full scholarship."_

Astrid's heart thumped with pure joy. She couldn't help the gigantic smile that spread across her beautiful face. Everyone took their turn coming over and giving her a big hug.

Mr. Hofferson hugged her and then abruptly stopped, "there's more. Keep reading the letters." One after another, Astrid picked up and read. Gronckle University, Zippleback College, Skrill University, and Rumblehorn all wanted her to run for them and all offered her full rides. Astrid's pride was swelling. Finally, finally someone had recognized all the hard work, dedication, and time she had put into her training to be the very best. However, she couldn't help feel a twinge of disappointment. No matter how many times she flipped through the stack of acceptance letters, she couldn't find a particular one: Night Fury University. But, Astrid brushed this aside to bask in this victory and enjoy the company.

Throughout the night, Gobber ended up having a little too much 'holiday spirit' judging from the empty bottle of whiskey beside him. The ethanol coursing through his veins incited him to give an impromptu concert, complete with jingle bells. Gobber was not known for his singing when he was sober, and he definitely was not any better drunk. Nonetheless, he gave everyone a good chuckle, and before long, all others including the very stoic Stoick had joined in as well. Hiccup took Astrid by the hands and began to execute movements that only remotely resembled dancing. Astrid laughed and went along with the clumsiness of his swaying. And she couldn't help but admire that his forest green eyes went perfectly together with his crimson shirt in true holiday fashion.

Through all the fun dancing, singing, and laughing, everyone had almost forgotten that Toothless had gone missing earlier that day. That was until Gobber, still extremely tipsy, spotted Toothless' uneaten food on the floor and proceeded to try it.

"What iz dis crap? Iz terrible!" Gobber bellowed as he chewed the dry, chicken-flavored cat food. Seeing the bowl which should have been empty by now gave both Hiccup and Astrid terrible pits in their stomachs.

"There's something wrong. I know it. Toothless should have been back by now. He never just leaves, and in the rare times that he has, he was always back by dark," Hiccup expressed worriedly.

"I'm sure he's okay. He probably is just out hunting. He still has natural instinct and will probably show up tomorrow morning with a 'present' on the doorstep," Astrid tried to reassure her boyfriend, although her expression said otherwise. Hiccup did not seem convinced at all.

"I'm going to call him. I'm just going to try."

"But it's so cold out…" protested Astrid.

Hiccup sighed, "exactly. That's why I need to find him. He's going to freeze being out in this weather."

The couple bundled up the best they could and took to the great outdoors. The howling wind resembled a freight train passing and the icy flakes of snow that were flung at their exposed faces stung like a million tiny bees. They called and called but with no avail. Despite the treacherous driving conditions, Hiccup and Astrid decided to get in the car and drive to the park to see if he was there.

"Toothless!" Hiccup called.

"Toothless!" Astrid yelled between teeth chatters.

"Toothless! Where are you?"

"I-it's s-so c-cold," Astrid muttered, barely able to move her lips.

"I know. Come over here." Astrid pressed her body up against Hiccup as he wrapped his arms around her, trying to bring her in as close as possible. "It's all my fault that he is out there in this horrendous weather. If I wasn't so stupid to let my hat get blow off my head to gods know where, then he wouldn't have gone out to look for it."

"You know it's not your fault. It was his own decision to go get it." Astrid saw as Hiccup's head lowered slightly. She knew that deep down he knew it wasn't his fault, yet he was still beating himself up over it. "Hiccup, you of all people know how smart Toothless is. He is okay. He probably is hiding somewhere warm right now to get out of the elements and just couldn't make it back." Hiccup looked into Astrid's eyes and gave her a slight smile before kissing the top of her head.

"Oh man! Your hair is completely frozen!" he exclaimed as his lips made contact with the frozen ice flakes on her head.

"No shit! And so is the rest of me!" she laughed.

"I guess we should probably go inside before we get frostbite on our spleens."

"I'm not sure if it isn't already too late for that! And I could really go for a nice cup of hot cocoa!" Astrid expressed.

Hiccup unwrapped his arms from around Astrid's waist so they would be able to walk, "that does sound really good right now. I will take anything but your eggnog!"

"Hey!" she sneered and punched Hiccup on the arm of his puffy coat.

As the couple was walking back to the safety of the car, a huge, bone-shattering gust of wind whirled through the sky. It swaddled the magnificent stalactites of icicles adorned a tree branch high above. Hiccup had all of two seconds to react to the situation. For him, the world suddenly came to a halt and he felt his senses sharpen. His bundled arms reached out from his pockets and he pushed Astrid to the side. One of the mighty icicles came crashing towards the earth, aiming directly for the beautiful girl like a carefully fired missile. But now that Astrid had been pushed out of the way by Hiccup, it was he whom the icy spike was headed towards. As it barreled closer and closer to Hiccup, the light caught the piece of ice for a split second, causing it to glisten an arctic blue. But the spectacle of beauty did not remain for long as the ice made impact. Crash!


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

The icicle flew through the air like a glass missile. The time it was in the air was not long at all; however, it seemed to sail in slow motion until it made contact with something hard. "Crash!" Hiccup, with eyes closed, heard the ice shatter against something hard, but he felt no pain. Slowly, he opened one eye after another. By some miracle, the icicle had somehow managed to miss Hiccup's body completely and make impact with his metal left leg. Astrid stood there in shock as she tried to process what happened. Finally, as the feeling came back to Astrid's body, she ran over to Hiccup and wrapped her arms around his body.

"Hiccup! Thank gods you are okay! Thank you for saving my life!" She pressed her lips to his and drew him in close. Even though both of their faces were completely frozen, they could feel the love and warmth radiating between them.

"Astrid, I don't know what I would ever do without you!"

"Me neither, Hiccup!"

"Come on, milady, let's go home for real this time and get warm."

"That sounds like a great idea! I couldn't agree more! And actually get that cup of hot cocoa!"

With all the drama that had just unfolded, both Hiccup and Astrid had almost forgotten about Toothless' disappearance. It wasn't until they got back to the Haddock house that they were reminded about this sad fact. Gobber greeted the snow-covered couple in the doorway, just about blocking the way with his massive body so they couldn't come in. Both of them had to squeeze past the two-limbed man and into the warmth of the entrance way that felt almost like walking through the magical gateways into the ecstasy of Valhalla. Gobber, still a little drunk, put his massive arms around them and drew them into a one-armed bear hug, "how nice of you guys to join the party! I thought you'd been carried off by those massive gusts of wind out there!"

Hiccup, still wearing his winter coat, puffed out his chest to make himself appear as large as possible, "who? Us? We're _way_ too muscular to be carried off by a little wind!" Astrid laughed and imitated the way Hiccup was showing off his muscles.

"Well, let ol' Gobber go and getcha a nice warm cup of cocoa!" He disappeared into the kitchen, humming some unknown yet strangely familiar tune. It was Stoick's turn to finally peel himself off the big comfy couch, beer still in hand, and retrieve the massive plush blanket that was draped across one of the other chairs in the room.

"You two look as frozen as a couple of icicles!" he said as he offered the blanket to them.

"Ugh, don't remind us of those," Hiccup groaned, taking off his snow covered boots and jacket and plopping himself on the couch beside Astrid. Hiccup threw the blanket around both of them and snuggled up next to Astrid as close as he possible could, both for the warmth of her body heat as well as the fact that he really didn't mind cuddling with her.

"Hiccup," Astrid sighed as her sapphire eyes gazed right into his emerald green one, "I'm really sorry we couldn't find Toothless out there. I know how hard it must be for you to be celebrating the holidays without your best friend. But I just want you to know I'll always be here for you and that he will be back. You know how he gets in those weird mood." The girl reach her arms under the blanket and wrapped them firmly around Hiccup's shivering body. As them embraced, she thought she saw movement out of the large glass window beside the front door. She pretty much had convinced herself that it was her frost-bitten brain that had made her hallucinate, until she saw it again. The shadow crept closer and closer to the door until finally, Astrid was able to see two magnificent green eyes peering into the window. Because Hiccup was turned away from the door in the embrace, he couldn't see what was just outside the door. "Ugh, Hiccup, I think there might be a delivery guy at the door with a package," she suddenly said, trying to hide the sarcasm in her voice. "He looks awfully cold."

"At this time of night? Astrid, are you sure you're not seeing things?" Hiccup asked, suddenly breaking the hug.

"No, of course not. You know how they work weird hours during the holidays trying to get everyone's gifts delivered on time. Come on, let's go check it out."

"Okay, but can I say I told you so when it happens to be some weird shadow from a tree swaying in the wind." Hiccup reluctantly got up from the large leather couch and Astrid had to keep herself from running over to the doorway. Finally, Hiccup saw just who was at the door. "TOOTHLESS!" he cried ecstatically as he flung open the door. "You're okay, bud! Don't you ever run off on me like that again! You had me so worried!" Hiccup threw his arms around the large black cat and pressed his head to Toothless' black fur, speckled with ice. When they separated, Toothless dropped a frozen object on the ground in front of Hiccup and looked lovingly up at his best friend with those brilliant green eyes. "Is that my mother's hat? Toothless, is that where you were all this time? Getting this back for me? You really are the best friend in the entire world. You never cease to amaze me, bud!"

Astrid placed her hand on Hiccup's upper back as he was still crouched over the ice-covered puma, "he really is amazing. You are lucky to have someone that cares so much about you. He's more than just a friend. He's family."

"He is. And now we finally have the whole family together. Let the celebrations begin!"

"I have yer cocoa!" Gobber cheered, walking back into the living room. "Hiccup? Astrid? Wherd yew two go? Did you go upstairs together?" Gobber asked, looking utterly confused.

"Gobber, we're in here!" Hiccup called. "Look who came back!"

"Toothless!" he yelled, running in with the two cups of hot chocolate in his right hand, spilling them everywhere over the floor. Stoick and the Hoffersons also joined the circle of people that had now congregated around the frozen cat.

"Is that Val's hat?" Stoick inquired. Hiccup nodded. "Is that where he was?" Hiccup nodded again. "Hmm…good cat." He commended as he patted Toothless' cold, black fur.

Now that Toothless was home, it finally felt like the joyous time of year that was the holidays. Even though they didn't do much for the rest of the night, it was a time that Hiccup would never forget due to all the love and warmth was spread around the house. That's the thing about being with the people whom you care most about. It's not about the activities or adventure that matter most, but it's about the quality time spent together. When you are surrounded with love, every moment together feels like a gift that could never be replaced.

The rest of winter break was a lot less eventful than the night of the big holiday. As school rolled around the corner, both Hiccup and Astrid couldn't help but be a little excited to go back and find out their classes. Of course, it was extremely nice that they had no obligations during break and were able to spend as much time together as they wanted, however, it was still exciting to get back to their very last semester of high school.

Arriving in homeroom the first day back, Hiccup and Astrid took their seats next to each other. It used to be that Astrid sat in the very front of the room, right by the teacher's desk and Hiccup in the back next to Fishlegs, but now they had both moved in order to be together. As soon as the teacher placed Hiccup's class schedule on his desk, Astrid snatched it away so she could look at it herself.

"Hey! Really, Ms. Grabby! You took it before I could even seem my own schedule? Real nice of you! And you don't even have your own!"

"Now I do!" she smirked as she was handed an additional piece of paper.

"Let me at least look with you instead of you having all the fun by yourself over there!"

She laughed, "okay! Come here!" As they compared the two pieces of paper side-by-side, both of their eyes lit up. "We have three classes together, plus lunch!" Astrid exclaimed ecstatically.

"Aw man, so that means I have to see you four times a day now! I don't know if I can handle seeing you that many times in a single school day! Can I get a class change please?" Hiccup replied sardonically.

Astrid punched her boyfriend's upper arm. "Well, technically five times including homeroom, dummy! You count like Ruff and Tuff!"

"Hiccup!" came a voice from behind them. "What's your schedule for this semester?" In the excitement over the fact that he had three classes and lunch with Astrid, Hiccup had almost forgotten that Fishlegs was in his homeroom as well.

"Well, I'll show you if I can get it back from avaricious my girlfriend," replied the boy as he snatched the piece of paper from Astrid's long, slender fingers. Fishlegs stared at the pieces of paper for a while, beady eyes darting from sheet to sheet.

"We have history together!" he exclaimed. "That's so great because that's like my favorite class and you will be there too! I'm so excited for this semester! We get to learn about the Vikings and all the explorers and the wars and I'm just sooo excited!"

Hiccup chuckled, "that definitely sounds like a good class. I guess you won't be getting senioritis in that! Say, Fishlegs, do you and Ruff have any classes together this semester?"

"Well actually, we both did sign up for an on-level art class in hopes that we could actually have a class together!"

"Romeo, Romeo! Where _art_ thou Romeo?" Hiccup mocked.

Both Hiccup and Astrid had a pretty good first day back. They both really enjoyed their literature and calculus classes together as well as lunch which they also had with Fishlegs, Ruff, and Tuff. (To be honest, Astrid was a little glad that Scott was not in their same lunch class because even though she and Hiccup had been dating for a while now, he still had the audacity to flirt with her.) Even though they knew they had AP Chemistry together, they both knew that that also meant having to deal with Ms. Lyser for another semester. Due to the fact that she was the only one that taught AP Chemistry, they were sure to get her, and she had promised the class the previous semester that spring's material was a lot more difficult!

Astrid had waited for Hiccup outside of the chemistry door before walking in. As they opened the door together, a strange smell reached their nostrils. Whether it was the smell of chemicals that lined the shelfs or the smell of fear from the students that were already seated in the classroom was unsure. What was certain, however, was the fact that Ms. Lyser looked even more wretched than she did the previous semester. Her tight black dress and dark make-up made her resemble something that ascended directly from the underworld, and one look from those piercing black eyes were enough to suck the soul from any poor student who happened to cross her the wrong way. As Astrid took a seat in a desk next to Hiccup, she tried to smile at Ms. Lyser but was returned with a grimace.

"Mr. Haddock! Ms. Hofferson!" she hissed. "Do you really think I will allow you two to sit next to each other? We don't want to be distracting to the other students trying to learn with all our flirting now, do we?" Astrid scowled deeply and shot Hiccup a look of pure exasperation as he slowly gathered his things and glumly dragged his foot back to the same desk as last semester. This was definitely going to be a long semester. As Ms. Lyser gave her bi-annual speech about the expectation of the class, both Hiccup and Astrid couldn't help but wonder worriedly if they would no longer get to be lab partners this semester. The only reason they were able to get through those dreadful lab reports last semester (well, after the first one that is) was because they had each other. Without that and they were sailing on turbid waters with nothing but a flimsy raft.


End file.
